Don't 'deal' with Bush, CPM tells UPA govt

NEW DELHI: The CPM on Sunday said the Manmohan Singh government should not operationalise the nuclear deal during President George Bush’s tenure. “Let a new President and a new administration be in place in the US. Let’s see what their attitude is (towards the deal). What’s the hurry?” CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury asked at a seminar on Indo-US nuclear agreement in Bangalore.

The government, which wants conclude the negotiations with the IAEA and the NSG countries before the February session of the US Congress, is all set to begin the talks in the third week of October.

As the IAEA negotiations are going to be as complex as the talks on the 123 Agreement, those in the government think that they cannot wait beyond the third week of October. According to the plan, India wants to work out the India-specific safeguards before the November meeting of the NSG countries.

Mr Yechury said the government believes that any ‘delay’ means the deal cannot be carried through. “It should raise the same ‘slogan’ that it maintained during the WTO negotiations — ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’.” The CPM leader said the deal “has to be stopped by all of us” and asserted that the Left parties would ‘finally’ tell the UPA government to choose between the “interest and opinion of the Indian people and promises it made to President Bush”.

Mr Yechury said President Bush is trying to pressurise India on the deal because he wants to show it to American people that he has revived the nuclear reactor industry in the US, which had remained idle for the last three decades. “And for that revival, he is showing urgency and putting pressure,” he said.

According to Mr Yechury, while it would cost Rs 3,30,000 crore to produce 30,000 MW of nuclear power, the same capacity can be added using hydro and coal resources in the region for Rs 90,000 crore - Rs 1,20,000 crore. “At this cost, is it worth it? Why do you need nuclear energy when other options are available?,” he asked.

Meanwhile, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar told reporters in Vienna that there was greater appreciation for India’s efforts in the nuclear field. He, however, remained silent on whether there were any discussions with the IAEA on the India-specific safeguards agreement, a pre-requisite for the operationalisation of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal. “I will not say anything on that,” Mr Kakodkar said when asked about his informal discussions with IAEA director general Mohammed El Baradei.