Two days before the next meeting between the United Progessive Alliance (UPA) and the Left parties take place, the latter have asked the Manmohan Singh government for an assurance that India’s foreign and strategic policies would not be compromised because of the India-United States nuclear agreement and overall defence tie-ups.

In a note submitted to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee who heads the UPA-Left mechanism to address Left apprehensions about the 123 Agreement, Left parties have raised the Hyde Act issue.

Asking whether there was any link between the India-US joint statement of July, 2005 and New Delhi’s vote against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting in September that year, the Left note says that strategic ties between India and the US would be contrary to the foreign policy path suggested in the National the Common Minimum Programme (NCMP).

Among the issues raised by the Left in the note in this regard are the UPA government’s stand on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, the Look-East policy, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and Non-Aligned Movement, Left sources said here on Sunday.

The Left parties have also sought clear response from the government on India’s participation in the US Proliferation Security Initiative and what its stand is on bilateral and multilateral agreements like the US Missile Technology Control Regime and the Australia Group.

PRANAB, BASU MEET OVER Nuke DEAL
Kolkata, DHNS: The Congress on Sunday continued its efforts to bridge the gap with the Leftists over the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu at his Salt Lake residence for nearly an hour, reports said.

Interestingly, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee and CPM Politburo member Biman Bose were also present at the meeting, Congress sources said, but declined to divulge what transpired in the meet.

Mr Mukherjee’s meeting comes on the heels of the failed October 5 parley between the UPA and Left parties on the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement, where neither side agreed to budge from their already declared stance on the issue. This  pushed the stand-off further to an indefinite period.