CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat has once again asked the UPA government to end talks with the IAEA by this month-end or be prepared for mid-term polls.
According to sources, it is an attempt to keep party rank-and-file in tact by Karat, who has already faced embarrassing questions from his party cadres on why the party allowed the government to go ahead with the IAEA talks when the Left parties were against strategic alliance with the United States of America.
He has to present his case “convincingly” in the 19th party Congress to be held in Coimbatore from March 29 to April 2, the sources said.
And the argument which the leader is likely to put forward in the party Congress is that the Left parties did not want to create instability at the Centre just before the crucial Gujarat polls, which might have turned the table in favour of the BJP.
“You may not be worried but we are. We don’t want the BJP to win. We have to defeat the Modi,” he said to his party colleagues explaining the reason why the Left representatives of the joint committee on the Indo-US nuclear deal gave go-ahead to the government for the IAEA talks.
A team of Indian officials are already in Vienna to resume their second round of talks with the IAEA for India-specific safeguards.
Addressing Delhi state committee meeting on Saturday Karat said: “When the officials come back from talks with IAEA, we will tell the government there is no need to go ahead with the deal. The issue must be resolved by the end of December. If they still go ahead, then we will have to be prepared for Lok Sabha mid-term polls.”