New Delhi
17 March 2008
The Left parties and the UPA on Monday concluded their seventh
round of talks without much to show by way of achieving a breakthrough on the
contentious India-United States nuclear deal. The government for its part reported to the
committee the outcome of the talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for
an India-specific safeguards agreement. The Left responded by seeking more time to
study the text of the agreement. However, there appeared to be one issue on which there
was little or no disagreement: Nobody wanted an early election.
Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee read out a brief statement after the talks
that lasted about 90 minutes. "The outcome of the negotiations between India and the
International Atomic Energy Agency on the India-specific safeguards agreement was
presented to the members of the committee," he said. Mr Mukherjee, who was flanked by
Mr Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M), also told reporters that the members of the committee
felt that further discussions were needed. Accordingly, it was decided that the next
meeting of the committee will be held in April. All the 15 members of the committee
participated in the meeting, Mr Mukherjee added.
The government did not place the full text of the draft safeguards agreement before the
Left parties. Invoking the confidentiality clause, the government conveyed to the Left
parties that the draft agreement first needed to be presented to all the 35 members of the
IAEA Board of Governors. Accordingly, Mr Mukherjee verbally conveyed the salient
features of the agreement to the Left parties. That did not satisfy the Left. Mr TJ
Chandrachoodan of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) told reporters that the
government gave a "gist" of the safeguards agreement but the Left parties would wait to
hear more from the government ahead of the next meeting.
According to CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan, the government insisted that the draft
safeguards agreement meets India's expectations on all three counts of assured fuel
supply, a strategic fuel reserve, and right to take corrective measures in the event of
disruption in fuel supply, besides recognition of India's separation plan. However, the
Left parties remained sceptical. They have sought time to examine the outcome of the
talks with the IAEA. They looked forward to getting more details about the safeguards
agreement before the next meeting in April.
Mr Bardhan maintained that the Left will not be hustled into giving the government the
go-ahead to sign the draft safeguards pact. He reminded reporters that the government
cannot proceed with signing the safeguards agreement without the UPA-Left committee's
approval, as was agreed in the last meeting of the committee on November 17. The Left
parties had allowed the government to hold negotiations with the IAEA on the safeguards
agreement on the express condition that the government will report the outcome of the
talks to the committee, he said, adding that majority opinion was against holding of an
early election.
Mr Bardhan indicated that the Left parties were in no hurry to take a decision on the
outcome of the talks with the IAEA. If it took the government so many months to negotiate
an agreement with the IAEA, how can anyone expect us to pronounce our judgment in
one sitting? he shot back, when asked about the Left parties's position now that the
government has reported to them the outcome of the talks with the IAEA. "Nothing can
happen before April," he said in response to another question about Mr Pranab
Mukherjee's visit to the US next week.
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