A day after CPM leader Prakash Karat issued another threat to withdraw support to the UPA government if the nuclear deal issue was not settled by the end of December, Congress reminded the Left about its commitment. The Left had committed itself to the UPA-Left committee on November 16 while giving the go ahead to the government to begin negotiations with the IAEA.
“There was a commitment at the November 16 meeting that after the IAEA talks, the government would come back to the committee and enter into discussions,” AICC spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told reporters here. “The government has started the process of negotiations with the IAEA after the November 16 go-head signal from our friends,” he said. He downplayed the “end-December-or-we-withdraw-support” threat from Mr Karat, saying, “I am not sure by what time the talks will be completed. That process may be completed either before the end of December, even by mid-December or third week of December.”
Ahmed also said, “I don’t agree that the majority in the upper house opposed it. We can’t say that as there was no voting.”