The Indo-US nuclear agreement could create a major headache for the United Progressive Alliance government in the monsoon session of Parliament with Left parties on Saturday giving enough hints over Washington's moves to raise new issues that would compromise the indigenous nuclear development programme.
The key outside supporters of the Congress-led coalition also made it clear at the UPA-Left Coordination Committee meeting that government should not expect their cooperation on the Pension and the Banking Regulations bills unless some changes were brought in them. The month-long session begins on July 24.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc leaders told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi that on the Israeli attack on Lebanon, the government needed to do more than just issuing statements.
A suspension of arms purchases from Israel would be a right step in such a scenario, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters after the two hour-long meeting in New Delhi. This was the first interaction between the Left and the UPA after the disinvestment process was put on hold following the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam threat to pullout of the government.
Expressing 'serious apprehension' over the Indo-US nuclear deal, Karat said the manner in which the US House of Representatives and the Senate were 'bringing up new issues' would 'not be in conformity with the interests of the country's independent nuclear technology development.'
He said such 'add-ons' went beyond the assurances given by the prime minister in Parliament last July. To this, sources said Dr Singh replied that he stood by the assurances he had given earlier.
"All international treaties on major issues should be ratified in Parliament," the CPI(M) leader said, adding that the Left would raise the nuclear issue in Parliament.
Regarding the Left note on two-year performance of the UPA government, Karat said the government was ready with the response, though it could not be taken up on Saturday as the ruling coalition wanted to discuss urgent issues to be taken up in Parliament.
Another meeting of the Left-UPA Coordination Committee would be held in the next two weeks to discuss the UPA's response to the Left note, he said. The Left parties supported the government's move to bring in the controversial Office of Profit bill in its present form but wanted it to set up a parliamentary committee to examine the entire issue in depth and evolve a definition.
On the Pension Bill, Karat said the Left parties were opposed to the legislation in its present form. The supporting parties wanted that the fund managers should be from the public sector and the funds should not be invested in the stock market.
The banking regulations amendment bill would be opposed if the government decided to amend the law to raise the representation of foreign-private members on the bank boards in proportion to the FDI-private participation in equity.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil briefed the Left leaders on the internal security situation, especially in context of the recent terror strikes in Mumbai. The government's move to bring the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill was supported by the Left parties who said the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the issue were 'worthwhile' and should be incorporated in the legislation before it was table in Parliament.
They also wanted the government bring in the bill on 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in higher educational institutions.
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