Fears of a snap poll receded on Tuesday after the standoff between the ruling UPA and the Left over the Indo-US nuclear deal appeared to ease under pressure from allies.
The subtle change in the UPA?s position became evident with allies signalling that the nuclear deal should not be pursued at the cost of the government. ?Will the nuclear agreement be there, if the government is not there?? a senior minister asked.
A meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and CPM leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury last night set the ground for a compromise, which was fleshed out at a meeting of the joint committee of the UPA and Left on Tuesday morning to discuss the nuclear issue.
?Our agenda is not a mid-term election or destabilisation. We are only saying don?t proceed with the deal,? Yechury told reporters after the meeting.
Sources said the government would not hold formal talks with IAEA chief Mohammad ElBaradei, who is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday.
The panel will reconvene on October 22. The pro-deal lobby, however, hasn?t lost hope.