Congress and Left leaders have begun working on a compromise formula to end the impasse over the nuclear deal after conciliatory voices from the CPI(M) on Friday significantly lowered political temperatures.
Left leaders are scheduled to meet the top Congress leadership including Sonia Gandhi next week, in which the UPA response to the Left position as sought by the CPI(M) central committee will be conveyed.
Meanwhile, on Friday, soon after Sonia Gandhi?s return from South Africa, the Congress core group met to take stock of the recent developments. Party circles have suggested that the UPA response to the Left could include stretching the timetable on conducting further negotiations at the IAEA and the NSG besides setting up an expert committee to look into the concerns raised by the Left over the nuclear deal.
There are indications that the Left not only wants to be a part of the committee, but also wants it to be headed by a political person. Earlier there were suggestions to have former foreign secretary Shyam Saran as the head of the panel, which could include former diplomats and nuclear experts.
Government managers are also working on a plan to push the debate in Parliament further, given that a discussion would only serve in putting the spotlight once again on the differences with the Left. Last week, parliamentary affairs minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi indicated August 29 and 30 as likely dates for debate, but the BJP on Friday said the parliamentary schedule on these dates talks only about discussion on inflation and price rise.
That the CPI(M), too, was now exercising restraint was evident when party leader Sitaram Yechury on Friday said there is no crisis for the government over the nuclear deal.
What might have further helped in toning down the Left stand was the split opinion within the central committee with Kerala and West Bengal members going against midterm polls. Yechury, however, maintained that the Left parties should get an assurance from the government that it would not proceed further with operationalising the deal, while stating that the assurance could be in any manner that the government wanted.
?We are not insisting that it should come on the floor of the House,? he said.
Political circles, however, are still uncertain about the turn of events with most leaders saying that the compromise, even if arrived at, would only mean a temporary truce.