Taking a cautious approach to Prime Minister’s indication on Friday that the Indo-US nuclear deal would not be pursued at the cost of the government, the Left Parties said they would wait for the UPA leadership’s formal response in the meeting of the joint committee scheduled for October 22.

“We will wait and see what stand the UPA leadership actually takes in the meeting of the joint committee on the nuclear deal,” CPI general secretary A B Bardhan told Deccan Herald.

He also insisted that the Left pressure against proceeding ahead with the negotiations on the deal would be intact. Echoing similar views, CPM Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said that both the Left and the UPA had stated positions on the deal and a joint committee had been set up to look into those positions.

“Naturally, we will wait for the report of that committee. We are waiting to see what position the UPA representatives will take in the committee,” he said.

However, the party Polit Bureau meeting, which was earlier scheduled for October 18, will now be held on October 24. General Secretaries of both the Communist Parties, Prakash Karat and A B Bardhan, would address a rally on the Indo-US nuclear deal in Mumbai on October 18.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said that it would not be the end of the world for him if the nuclear deal could not go through.

The PM, speaking at a seminar said if that if the Indo-US nuclear deal does not go through, “it will be a disappointment. But in life, one has to live with disappointments,”he added.

When asked about the reasons for the softening of stand by the Prime Minister on the deal Mr Yechury said, “I cannot comment on degree of variation of Prime Minister’s determination to go ahead with the deal. We are making sincere efforts on the issue and we will wait for the final report of the committee.”

Stating that Congress leadership was now speaking on more sober terms, Bardhan said earlier that it seemed that the entire future of the nation depended on the deal.