On the eve of the second meeting of the Left-UPA mechanism to assess the impact of Hyde Act on the Indo-US nuclear agreement, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat asked the UPA government ?to hault operationalisation? of the deal for six months and before putting it into operation take the sense of Parliament.
??Do not operationalise the deal for at least six months. The government should wait for the outcome of a discussion in Parliament before taking any decision on the issue,?? Karat said addressing a mammoth public rally organised by the CPI(M) Delhi state committee here. He also asked the government to choose either promise made to US President George Bush or ??to listen to the majority in Parliament.??
He said the Left support is purely based on the Common Minimum Programme(CMP). ??Three years ago, the Left parties decided that if the Congress-led coalition takes a pro-people stand we would support them. The decision was to work in accordance with the CMP. But three years later, the Manmohan Singh government is trying to make efforts to break it,?? he said.
Meanwhile, the Red brigade has decided to step up its attack against the nuclear deal within and outside the Left-UPA mechanism. The CPI(M) will organise more public meetings against the deal at various state capitals to be attended by senior leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury.
The second meeting of the mechanism scheduled on Wednesday is expected to witness the Left squarely rejecting the government’s arguments on the Hyde Act. ??The 123 agreement is in it self is binding with the Hyde Act. The US will use that Act in future as constant source of pressure on India?s foreign policy,?? a senior CPI(M) leader said on the eve of the meeting. Sources said that government’s note was not enough to describe the ?binding nature? of the 123 agreement with the Hyde Act.
Maintaining that there will be no change in the Left’s stand, CPI national secretary D Raja told FE that they will reiterate their position at the meeting. ??We will reiterate our position,?? he added. He said the Left parties will meet on Wednesday before the meeting with the government. ??We will chart out a strategy for the meeting. Our response on the government’s note will be given based on the collective decision of the Left parties,?? Raja said.
