UPA-Left next round on nuclear deal tomorrow

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New Delhi, May 4 The Left-UPA deliberations on the Indo-US nuclear deal is certain to continue further, even as the government has given the Left leaders yet another “note” clarifying its position on the issue ahead of the eighth meeting of the Left-UPA panel on deal on Tuesday.

Sources in the Left, apparently dissatisfied, indicated that the Centre’s note “merely reiterates” its stated position on the issue.

During the last meeting in March, the government had exchanged a “gist” of the safeguard agreement the country had reached with the International Atomic energy Agency (IAEA).

Rejecting the government’s stand that the safeguard agreement addresses the issue of “un-interrupted fuel supply”, the Left had said that the safeguard agreement did not “touch” the concerns raised by it. “The IAEA is not an agency to supply fuel,” a senior Left leader quipped.

The Left sources also indicated that they would like to “extend” the discussions as far as possible. They had already warned the government not to take the next step or initial the safeguard agreement unless the Left-UPA panel arrives at a consensus on the issue. The Left’s strategy is to drag the meetings till July, when the US slips into “election mood.” “We will see what they are going to say in the next meeting,” RSP general secretary TJ Chandrachoodan, also a member of the panel, told FE.