Govt to be conciliatory

NEW DELHI: The UPA-Left co-ordination mechanism on the nuclear deal, which is scheduled to meet mid-week, will see the government clarifying its stand on the agreement. With the CPM making it clear that any progress on the agreement will threaten the UPA government���s existence, the Congress will have to assess the political cost of the deal in the next two to three days.

That the leadership is still not ready to anger the Left and force an early election was evident from foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee���s statement that the government would not sacrifice office for the deal. The minister also went to the extent of asserting that the government has already conveyed to the US, ���the deal could not be worked out within a timeframe.���

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat repeated his party���s stand that the government had the sanction only for discussing IAEA safeguards. ���The government says that it has concluded negotiations with IAEA. And we now want to know what happened at IAEA,��� Mr Karat said.

The CPM leader came close to suggesting that his party was just not concerned about the deadline set for the deal. ���IAEA negotiations took two to three months. We have time to go through details,��� he said.

The Congress core group, which discussed the issue last Friday, did not take a call. But the dominant opinion at the meeting was against precipitating a crisis at the Centre.

The Congress has reasons to opt for a cautious approach. Although the budget has given the party a talking point, the organisation is still not prepared for an electoral combat. The just-concluded elections to three north-eastern states showed that even in areas that were once considered its strongholds, the party has not done too well.

The rising rate of inflation is also a worry for the Congress. With parties backing the coalition arrangement at the Centre launching a campaign against the government on the issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have to deal with the issue. Since food prices are rising globally, it will not be easy to tackle the problem.