“Should the government decide to push ahead with the deal, we will not and cannot be a party to go along with it. We will then be left with no other option than to withdraw our support to the government,” CPI general secretary A B Bardhan wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

This is the first time a Left party supporting the government from outside has officially written to the prime minister threatening to withdraw support, even though the Left leaders had been making tough statements asking the Congress-led government not to operationalise the nuclear deal.

The CPM mouthpiece, People’s Democracy, had already said that the Left parties would take necessary steps to stop the government from moving forward on operationalising the deal. The issue, however, was not on the agenda of the first day of the CPM Central Committee meeting being held here from Friday. Top CPM leaders deliberated on the party’s organisational strengths and weaknesses to chalk out future activities so that a third alternative could be formed against the BJP and the Congress.The two-day meet of the Central Committee would give final touches to the CPM’s Political-Organisational Report, which would be adopted by the party’s congress slated for March-April at Coimbatore. The meeting is being attended among others by CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury, M K Pandhe, Brinda Karat and S R Pillai among others.

Co-ordination

The party also reviewed its efforts on greater co-ordination with other Left parties in the wake of serious differences which have arisen, particularly in West Bengal, over the Nandigram issue. Suggesting a possible realignment of forces at the national level, the party has said the Left parties have a responsibility to initiate the formation of a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative on a common policy platform.