Faced with the spectre of triggering a critical situation that could endanger the UPA government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his senior colleagues initiated moves on Tuesday to engage Left leaders on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.

However, signs of any likely solution to the logjam remained elusive as the Left refused to budge from its stand, reiterating that it did not want the deal to be operationalised.

The move to try and bring around the Left began with Prime Minister hosting CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat over breakfast on Tuesday, where he responded to the queries raised by the Left on the deal. External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, too, was present at the meeting. ?Some of the points regarding the agreement were discussed. The CPI(M) general secretary stated that he would put it to the party?s politburo which will meet over the weekend,? a statement said, hinting adequately that the Left leader had refused to give any assurances. The only silver lining was the assertion that both Karat and Singh ?reiterated that efforts would be made to sort out the issues?. Singh also spoke to West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya over the issue.

Meanwhile, US President George Bush, in a telephonic conversation with the Prime Minister, discussed the deal.