Seeking to end the standoff with the Left on the nuclear issue, the government on Sunday announced setting up of an expert committee which will look into concerns raised by the Left, particularly in the context of Hyde Act passed by the US Congress.
Making the announcement after a meeting of the UPA this evening, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee also said that the debate on the nuclear issue in parliament would now take place on August 27 and 29.
Government managers indicated that the committee could include members of Left parties, besides diplomats and nuclear experts.The committee was set up after CPIM politburo member Sitaram Yechury suggested in a meeting with Mr Mukherjee earlier in the day that a mechanism be set up to evaluate the implications of the Hyde act in the US. Defence minister AK Antony and Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress president had also attended the meeting.
Yechury, however, had ruled out scope of a compromise. “There is no compromise formula. It depends on the government what to decide,? he told reporters after the meeting. Left parties?the CPI(M), the CPI, the RSP and the Forward Bloc?are meeting on Monday to study the government response on their position.
However, after the UPA meeting, government managers indicated that the committee could be the way out. In the meeting, the majority view was that the government should do everything it could to end the crisis.
“Everyone feels that a way out is possible,” Pranab Mukherjee, the key negotiator with the Left, told reporters earlier asserting that he had held talks with RJD president Lalu Prasad, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and other alliance leaders.
“At the moment, however, it is difficult … let us see,” he added when asked about the situation in which the government was in.
