Left withdraws support to UPA govt

The Left parties have decided to withdraw support to the UPA government, after a crucial meeting of party leaders in New Delhi.

Top Left party leaders met here to formulate an "appropriate" response to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's announcement that the government would approach the IAEA for the nuclear deal.

The Left coordination committee meeting, which began at CPM headquarters here, was attended by CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, his CPI counterpart A B Bardhan and other senior leaders like D Raja (CPI), RSP leaders T J Chandrachoodan and Abani Roy and Forward Bloc's Debabrata Biswas and G Devarajan.

The meeting, which was earlier fixed at 4 pm, was rescheduled to 11:30 am after Singh's announcement on Monday that the government would "soon" approach the IAEA for a safeguards agreement for the nuclear deal with the US.

Ahead of the meeting, Karat told reporters on Tuesday morning that the meeting would be a "crucial" one as there was "nothing more" on Left's course of action with regard to the Prime Minister's announcement on the nuclear deal.

Karat said the Prime Minister had made the announcement on the deal in a foreign land which he could have told the Left parties here.

The Left parties had earlier stated that they would withdraw support to the Congress-led government the moment it decides to go to the IAEA. Karat has said the Left parties will meet and give an "appropriate" response to the PM's statement.

Left leaders were livid over the Prime Minister's announcement, which came barely an hour after the government sought another round of meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal on July 10, saying they were "insulted".

"Only thing I am saying now is that we will take a crucial decision. Singh has hoodwinked the Left parties, the UPA allies and the people. We ask him to behave in a manner befitting his post," Chandrachoodan said.

Noting that the Left had maintained civility by publicly saying that they will wait till Singh returns, the RSP leader said, "now the UPA leadership should not expect the Left to show the courtesy by waiting till then."