Finally, it seems the Left has blinked. After pushing the nuclear controversy to the brink and precipitating a confrontation with the UPA that threatened to dislodge the Manmohan Singh government, the Left on Tuesday signalled a major climbdown.
There are indications that it would allow the government to approach the IAEA on India-specific safeguards.
While refusing to endorse the Indo-US nuclear deal, Left parties in a joint statement on August 20 said, ??The Left parties wish to state that this would require not taking the next step of negotiations for the safeguards pact with the International Atomic Energy Agency??. Subsequently, on October 1, the CPI(M) central committee met and issued another statement which reiterated the stand, asking the government ??not to proceed with the next step of negotiating the text of a safeguards agreement with the IAEA??.
Besides relentless efforts being made by government managers to convince Left leaders, the sudden shift in Left position was also attributed to the developments in West Bengal in the context of the CPI(M)-led government facing widespread criticism on the Nandigram issue. Government managers maintained that they had been working hard in all the meetings of the joint panel to convince the Left leaders that holding negotiations with the IAEA could not be construed as ?operationalising? the deal. They have also been arguing that the standoff over the deal was sending wrong signals to the international community.
The breakthrough, however, was understood to have come after Sonia Gandhi along with PM Manmohan Singh assured CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and CPI general secretary AB Bardhan, the government would not make any commitments to the IAEA before checking with the Left. Political circles contended the Nandigram controversy, which has pushed the CPI(M) into a corner and created divisions in the Left Front, might have also helped government managers in working out a deal with the Left.