N-deal: PM is the lone supporting voice

The government's main interlocutor with the Left parties on the Indo-US nuclear deal -- Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee -- has, in the last ten days, spoken at least twice on the issue to the media.

He has reiterated the need to tap nuclear energy but has remained evasive on the fate of the 123 Agreement between India and the US for civilian nuclear cooperation.

This seems to be a signal that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance has succumbed to the harsh fact that the deal, its biggest international venture, will bite the dust as the Left remains sceptical. Communist Party of India-Marxist Politburo member Sitaram Yechuri said on Thursday: "The UPA-Left committee will meet, but there is no question of agreeing to the government's stand."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who said domestic difficulties were holding up the deal, could be the Congress' lone voice still pushing for the deal, said top sources in the party.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has also been apprised of the ground reality that it is almost impossible to save the deal.

Gandhi and her top party managers have also decided that they will not go ahead with the deal at the cost of losing the Left's support.

On Thursday, a top CPI-M leader told Business Standard: "The George Bush administration in the US will transact business till August. So we would like to ensure that the UPA government doesn't get a chance to operationalise the deal till that time."

Although the Left is determined to kill the deal, it will allow the government to clinch an agreement with the international atomic watchdog, the IAEA. "We are not against the IAEA, but against the US," said Yechuri.

The Left's plan is clear. It will allow the government to go to Vienna to ink the agreement only after ensuring that the deal with the US is not possible.

The UPA-Left nuclear committee will now meet on June 18. According to CPM sources, the Left will now ask the government to clarify the status of the deal and the exact process of negotiations at the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Although in the last meeting, the UPA managers tried to assure the Left that the deal won't be on an "auto-pilot" mode once the IAEA agreement is done, the CPM is still not convinced.