Nuclear deal in freezer; UPA, Left fail to break ice

New Delhi: The UPA on Monday bought time from the Left as the crucial meeting of the coordination committee on nuclear deal ended without any conclusion.

According to sources, the UPA made a determined effort to placate a hostile Left on the deal, but the comrades yielded no ground, leaving the issue in an impasse.

"The committee felt that further discussion is required. The next commitee meeting will be held in April 2008," senior Congress leader and Union External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said after emerging from the meeting.

This was the first time that the UPA Government met the Left leaders after talking to the International Atomic Energy Agency about an India-specific safeguards agreement. The government gave the Left copies of the draft agreement that it has reached with the IAEA.

"The members of the Committee felt that further discussion was needed. It was decided to hold the next meeting in April, 2008," Mukherjee, with CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury by his side, said after the 90-minute meeting.

According to sources, Pranab Mukherjee tried to assure the Left leaders over the safeguards agreement, but the Left refused to budge from its opposition to the nuke deal.

At the last meeting on November 17, the Left parties had allowed the Government to hold negotiations with the IAEA on the safeguards agreement, but in between had been issuing threats of dire consequences if the Government went ahead with the deal.

Left sources told CNN-IBN that there can be no compromise on the issue. The Left has threatened to withdraw support to the government if it proceeds with the deal without the clearance of the Left-UPA committee.

For the UPA, the time is running out as the Bush presidency wants to take the deal through the US Congress before its term expires. The IAEA agreement must go to the NSG soon if the deal is to happen.

The India-specific safeguards are a necessary step to make the deal operational. The Left had earlier given the green light to the government to hold talks with the IAEA with the condition that the final draft of the pact would have to be approved by the 15-member UPA-Left panel.