The stand-off on Indo-US nuclear deal shows no sign of letting up as the major Left partner the CPM, on Wednesday, reiterated its demand of putting on hold negotiations with the IAEA until its concerns were addressed.
“All we are asking from the Government is to press the pause button. It should properly evaluate all the implications before proceeding further,” CPM Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said. His comments came as the Central Committee, the party’s top decision-making body, began a two-day meeting to discuss the issue, amid signals that the Government was not prepared to heed its ultimatum on the contentious issue.
Even the CPI has called an emergency meeting of its National Executive on August 28 and 29 to discuss the nuclear stand off and the possible course of action for the Left parties.
Reacting to Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi’s statement on Tuesday that the government would go ahead with negotiations with the IAEA,  the Marxist leader said the Left parties would wait for a formal statement from the Centre.
Party General Secretary Prakash Karat submitted a report of the Polit Bureau on the  deal before the Central Committee.
The Central Committee has to take tough decisions on how far it could go in its opposition to the government in the critical matter, amid growing apprehensions of a mid-term election.
While a section of the CPM  leaders including Sitaram Yechury, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose  are not in favour of withdrawing outside support from the Manmohan Singh Government, there are hardliners arguing for a stronger position.   
IAEA meeting
The IAEA meet at Vienna has become a subject of debate with CPM insisting against any negotiations on India-specific safeguards concerning the 123 agreement, but saying that it was not against India participating in the IAEA’s General Council meeting mid-September as a member country. 
In fact, the Left parties will be closely following Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar’s visit to see if he only attends the IAEA meet or discusses the safeguards agreement with the UN watchdog too.