A day ahead of the crucial meeting of the Left-UPA political committee on Monday on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the CPI(M) said that the findings of the committee could be announced by November second week. The Left has been maintaining that in Monday?s meeting it will demand a public assurance from the UPA government that the deal is put on hold for the time being.

When asked about the timeframe of the UPA-Left committee to come out with the findings, CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said that it is expected by this Diwali. ?May be after Diwali…sometime,? Yechury told reporters at Bangalore. Yechury, however, added that a consensus on the issue will not be possible unless the Left?s concerns were addressed properly by the government. ?We have not heard anything official from them as yet. Unless our concerns were met, we don?t think consensus would be possible,? he added.

The Left parties had hinted that the meeting on Monday could not be the last one on the issue. With Yechury hinting that by Diwali the committee could come up with its findings, it is almost certain that one or two meeting will be scheduled in the days to come. The agreement with the Left and the UPA was that the operationalisation of the deal will take into account the finding of the political committee.

?Tomorrow?s meeting may not be the last meeting. There may be more meetings in the future. Till the meetings are over and till our concerns are taken on board, we expect the government not to proceed with operationalising the deal,? Yechury said. ?In tomorrow?s meeting, we will come to know how the government wishes to proceed. On that basis, we will take our future decisions,? he added.

The Congress and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asserted that the deal is still ?alive? a way out will be found. ?I have not given up hope,? Singh had said last week. The meeting, in the background of these crucial statements, could be a decisive one for both the government and the Left.

However, with the UPA allies also pitching for putting the deal on hold for some time, the government, succumbing to the pressure, could make a statement that the deal will not be operationalised until the committee comes up with its findings.