Karat: No compromise on N-deal

BY SANJAY BASAK

New Delhi

June 27: CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat once again shattered the so-called "hope" expressed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday on resolving the ongoing nuclear crisis. Mr Mukherjee, who had a meeting with CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury on Thursday evening, said that "an acceptable solution will be arrived at" on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

"We are discussing with all parties concerned. We hope that after this we will arrive at an acceptable solution," Mr Mukherjee said. With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepping up pressure to hold the final meeting of the UPA-Left nuclear committee before the G8 summit, Mr Mukherjee said that he was "aware of the constraints of time, but we have address the concerns expressed by different section."

However, maintaining its hawkish stance, Mr Karat in the forthcoming issue of the party organ, People’s Democracy, blamed the Prime Minister for the prevailing crisis and that "there will be no comrpmise on the issue of the government approaching the IAEA board for approval of the safeguards agreement."

The CPI(M) boss made it clear that the government could be saved if "it took an honest and a credible stand even at this stage that there is no political consensus on such a vital international agreement." He added: "In such circumstances, the government is not proceeding further with the deal, even though it is convinced that the deal is good for the country."

Flaying the government for concealing facts from the committee, Mr Karat wrote: "The Left parties had raised a number of issues regarding the text. But the text was not placed before the committee on the plea that was classified."

Mr Karat maintained that the Prime Minister was pushing for the deal at the "insistence of the Bush administration, that India complete the procedures for the safeguards agreement with the IAEA so that the Americans can take the step of formally initiating the process in the Nuclear Suppliers Group to get the waiver for nuclear trade with India." He then added: "The Bush administration knows very well that there is no time for the 123 Agreement to be passed by the current US Congress."

In the article, Mr Karat maintained that "Mr Bush wants to ensure in the last few discredited months of his presidency that at least the Indo-US nuclear deal will remain as a legacy."