Former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu continued to assert that the UPA government at the centre faces no danger from the Left parties over Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.
“The government was on the verge of falling since they were not paying heed to any advice from the Left parties, but now they are paying attention to us,” Basu told reporters at his Indira Bhavan residence in Salt Lake. “I want the government to continue.”
Basu’s comments came on the eve of a visit by US ambassador David Mulford to Kolkata on Sunday. Mulford will be accompanying US treasury secretary Henry M Paulson Jr, who has decided to make Kolkata his landing point for a visit to India.
Mulford is scheduled to meet chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at Writers’ Buildings on Sunday morning.
CPI(M) sources said the nuclear deal could figure in the meeting between Mulford and Bhattacharjee.
Basu said the Left parties had told the Congress-led UPA government not to proceed further with the nuclear deal.
“At our last meeting, they have agreed to some points made by us,” Basu said.
Basu said he was not aware of the latest developments regarding the disagreements over the nuclear deal.
“Prakash Karat (the party general secretary) will be coming to Kolkata, and we will discuss the issue in details then,” Basu said.
CPI(M) sources said Karat is expected to be here on November 1, officially to discuss matters related to the CPI(M)’s biennial conferences. Karat will also attend the Friday meeting of the state secretariat the next day.
On Nandigram, Basu iterated that the government had decided to give compensation to the families of those killed in the March 14 police firing, but the Opposition is persisting with its attacks on CPI(M) supporters and government officials.
“Over a 1000 supporters of our party who fled Nandigram are still outside. They must be allowed to re-enter,” Basu said.