Congress to update SP on nuke deal

As the fate of the nuclear deal, staunchly opposed by the Left, now squarely depends on the support of the SP, this move is an attempt to hard-sell the deal to its new-found ally.

The SP leadership has been complaining that it has not heard anything directly from the government about the deal so far and they need to allay their apprehensions before supporting the UPA government on the issue.

SP General Secretary Amar Singh held talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee last night for over one hour. However, today, he reiterated that his party needed to know more.

"So far, our knowledge of the deal has come from what the Left friends have told us. We need to discuss the issue with the government. On Wednesday, the NSA will brief us about the deal", Singh told reporters after meeting CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat.

Even as the SP-led United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) will hold a formal meeting on Thursday to decide their stand, both the SP and the Congress are busy doing the groundwork for joining hands. Singh, however, said their stand (to oppose) the nuclear deal had not changed yet and that the party would be rethinking after the meeting with the NSA.

"As far as the nuclear deal is concerned, there is no change in our stand yet. What we said in Parliament and even outside, we continue to say. But the political situation has changed. Communalism is a bigger evil for the country", Singh said outside AK Gopalan Bhawan, the CPI(M) headquarters.

Singh gave enough hints that his party might sugarcoat its shift towards the Congress by raising the issue of the rise of communalism.

"Recent developments in Uttar Pradesh show the BSP and the BJP are coming together. This is going to help communalism rise to a new level. We must stop it", he said.

Although the SP is awaiting the UNPA meeting to formally declare its stand, for the first time, Singh criticised the Left for the current crisis.

"The Left parties played a major role in the formation of the UPA government. It was like Vishwakarma. But now it seems the Left is drowning the UPA."

Like Singh, Agricultural Minister Sharad Pawar held consultations with Karat last night. Today, Pawar had a half-an-hour chat with Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee at Dubai airport. Sources in Congress feel such backroom consultations will continue for the next two days and the efforts on the nuclear deal will gather momentum only after the UNPA meeting.

The Left parties, on their part, would decide the future strategy on July 4, said Karat.

PTI reported that a worried TDP, a partner in the UNPA, said the alliance was united in opposing the deal and dismissed reports that the SP would support the Congress. TDP leader Yerran Naidu, who met Karat, said SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had never said that he was supporting the Congress or the nuclear deal.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad, believed to be making efforts to bring the Congress and the Samajwadi Party together, said Yadav's party was with the UPA and expressed confidence that both the government and nuclear deal would survive.