While submitting the copies of the draft India-specific safeguards agreement reached with the IAEA, the government would seek to prevail upon the Left members that the deal had nothing to do with the controversial Hyde Act.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also the chief mediator with the Left parties on the issue, has expressed hope that all contentious matters would be amicably solved.

Even senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily said that his party colleagues were not “panicky” about the outcome of the meeting.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of major Left parties asserting that they would withdraw support to the Congress-led government if it went ahead with the nuclear deal.

However, the Left parties have been saying that they would not be responsible if the government falls.
CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said the Left parties were totally opposed to the deal as it was “anchored in the Hyde Act”, which had conditions that were against the interests of India.

“The government will have to move forward only on the basis of the findings of this committee. If the committee says that the deal is wrong, then it should be dropped,” he said.

CPM general secretary, Prakash Karat, has said that the UPA government will last its full term and the Left parties will not be responsible if it falls.

Karat said the Left parties had given the go-ahead to the government to hold talks with the IAEA, as it had agreed to bring the draft safeguards agreement to the UPA-Left panel on the nuclear deal.