Govt not in majority in Parliament on N-deal: CPI

NEW DELHI: The CPI on Thursday said the government was "not in a majority" in Parliament on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal and reasserted that the 123 agreement should not be operationalised as it went against national interests.

"See the number of parties which opposed the deal during the debate yesterday and their respective strengths in the Lok Sabha. The government is not in a majority on the deal," party leader Gurudas Dasgupta told reporters here.

Asked about the "softening" of stand by the Samajwadi Party on the issue, he maintained that the SP had opposed the deal during the discussion.

Claiming that the government should evolve a national consensus on the matter, Dasgupta said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's reply to the discussion was "unfortunate" as it did not address all the concerns.

"We have told the government do not operationalise the (123) pact," he said.

The CPI leader said his party would raise the issue of price rise which was "man-made" and ask the government to take immediate steps to meet the situation.

Besides this, the other issues the party intended to take up for discussion in the Parliament include Special Economic Zones and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.