Left-UPA meet on nuclear deal postponed

NEW DELHI: The crucial talks between the Left parties and the government on the Indo-US nuclear deal were suddenly postponed on Wednesday apparently as the two sides saw no meeting ground on their positions.

No reason was given for the last minute postponement but Left leaders linked it to the ministers being preoccupied with the visit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Left sources said they have been told that the meeting will now be held on June 25.

Hectic parleys between the two sides continued till late Tuesday night which could have resulted in the government decision to defer the ninth round scheduled on Wednesday.

Left leaders, who did not want to be identified, ruled out the possibility of any change in their stand on total opposition to the deal and also dismissed any talk of agreement with the government on allowing it to go to the IAEA for finalising the India-specific safeguards agreement.

There was also talk in political circles that the government declined to make public the draft safeguards agreement.

They said the government must have thought of postponement probably to decide on what to do in the face of continuing Left opposition to the deal and also against any forward movement in the IAEA.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, government's key negotiator with the Left, had met CPM general secretary Prakash Karat twice in the last two days and pleaded with him that government should be allowed to push forward the draft safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, who also holds a similar view, talked to Karat on Tuesday while another CPM leader Sitaram Yechury met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday night.