The CPM Central Committee, on the second day into its meeting here on Sunday, appeared sharply divided on the question of withdrawal of support to the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal, despite an apparently broad consensus on the need for opposing the deal in the interest of the country.

Signals at the end of Sunday’s meeting indicate that  a final decision on the withdrawal of support might not be taken for the time being.  Two meetings of the UPA-Left Committee on nuclear deal are slated for the next fortnight.

The  committee also considered the fact that any decision taken in haste would have a serious repercussion  impacting the Left parties’ prospects in the event of a mid-term general election. It is still not clear whether the CC would fall in line with party patriarch Jyoti Basu’s strong argument. Mr Basu had argued that a mid-term poll should be averted at any cost and advised the party to abstain from voting in a no-confidence motion against the UPA government.

There is a possibility that CC is willing to wait for the outcome of the UPA-Left committee meeting next month, before deciding on the next course of action.

At least, this was evident from what Mr Basu told newsmen here after the committee meeting.“Two UPA-Left meetings on the nuclear deal are slated  on October 5 and 14. We’ll have to first see whether they (Congress) offer us some concessions. We will decide then.”

But another Politburo member and CITU President M K Pandhe  struck a different chord when asked to elaborate on the concessions in the event of a deadlock persisting.  “What concessions? The only concession (that Congress is to make) is stop the (nuke) deal. There is no question of diluting our stand on our opposition to the deal,” he said.

WE HAVE NO PART: CHINA

Beijing, agencies:  China’s ruling Communist Party has said it has nothing to do with the Left parties’ opposition to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal and that it was an internal matter of India.

“No not at all. The Indo-US civilian nuclear deal is an internal affair of India and we will not use our party-to-party relations with the CPI or CPM to oppose that,” a senior leader of Communist Party of China (CPC) Ai Ping said.
He was asked about the perception in some quarters in India that the Left’s opposition to the civil nuclear agreement was influenced by CPC.