Pranab meets Karat, discusses N-deal

A day ahead of their meeting on the Indo-US nuclear deal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Prakash Karat and asked the Left parties to allow the government seal the safeguards agreement with International Atomic Energy Agency.

This, he said, would also help India conduct nuclear trade with Russia and France.

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But the CPI-M general secretary is understood to have told Mukherjee that the proposal was not acceptable as it would operationalise the 123 agreement.

When contacted, Karat refused to confirm the meeting though sources said the leaders had met late last night. The UPA-Left committee will hold its meeting in New Delhi to discuss the various aspects of the deal.

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As far as getting the IAEA board of governors to approve the India-specific safeguards agreement, the Left parties have maintained that this was not acceptable as it was being negotiated in the context of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The Left parties have been saying that going to the IAEA now would only be the next step to operationalise the agreement which they cannot allow.

So far as nuclear trade with Russia and France is concerned, there was no urgency to go the IAEA now as these two countries have not even signed bilateral nuclear agreements with India. The signing of such an agreement with Russia was deferred during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's last visit to Moscow.

CPM Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury had said, "Our objection is not with IAEA. Our objection is with the 123 agreement (for operationalising the deal), which according to us is very deeply anchored in the Hyde Act (of the US)."

The UPA-Left committee, set up in November last year to resolve the differences between the government and the Left allies over the nuclear deal, will meet on June 18 to discuss whether the government should go ahead with signing the safeguards agreement with IAEA.

The government hopes to get the go-ahead from the Left to complete the safeguards agreement and seek waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group from its guidelines to participate in international atomic trade. The two steps are required to operationalise the nuclear deal.