08-20-2007, 02:38 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Prepare for snap poll: Bardhan </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
'If UPA goes ahead with deal, mid-term poll inevitable'
A day before the Left parties meet to formalise a joint position on the stand-off with the UPA over the India-US civil nuclear deal, the message coming form the comrades was far from comforting for the Government. Â
While CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said after his meeting with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee that "there was no compromise formula and it depends on the Government what to decide", CPI general secretary AB Bardhan virtually gave a call to the cadre to prepare for mid-term polls.
<b>"Governments come and go but country remains", </b>Bardhan said in Ahmedabad, adding, <b>"if there are general elections along with the Gujarat Assembly poll, the cadre have to be ready."</b>
The message was loud and clear<b> "if the UPA Government goes ahead with the deal, mid-term poll was inevitable."</b>
Bardhan's grim warning to the Government was in sync with the hardening of stand within the Left on the crisis that has engulfed the UPA. Ahead of the Left Front meetings, several Left leaders seem reconciled to final parting of ways with the UPA Government.
<b>"The crisis can be averted for the time being, but in the long run, we don't see a compromise with the UPA on the nuke deal issue. The Left-Congress relations will never be the same again," </b>said a senior Left leader.
Sources said that with the hardliners calling the shot within the Left Front, on the menu of the leaders on Monday will primary be two agendas: Whether to withdraw support and let the Government fall, or keep the Government afloat for the time being by lending it issue-based support. A consensus was likely around the second option.
Sources said that few Left leaders were in favour of any compromise. The same hardline thinking prevailed even in the politburo meeting despite a section of the leaders from West Bengal arguing against precipitating the crisis, they said. Incidentally, CPI(M) patriarch Jyoti Basu had openly spoken against the possibility of withdrawal of support. But the CPI(M) resolution was nearly an ultimatum before formal withdrawal of support.
<b>Out of this exercise, what we will get is just 20,000 MW of power and that too by 2020. For this, we cannot compromise the country's sovereignty and foreign policy."</b>
Bardhan warned the UPA Government against beginning negotiations with the IAEA on an agreement on safeguards or with the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Asked if the Government should scrap the draft 123 agreement, he said such deals "need not be scrapped - they need not be implemented or operationalised".
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Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
'If UPA goes ahead with deal, mid-term poll inevitable'
A day before the Left parties meet to formalise a joint position on the stand-off with the UPA over the India-US civil nuclear deal, the message coming form the comrades was far from comforting for the Government. Â
While CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said after his meeting with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee that "there was no compromise formula and it depends on the Government what to decide", CPI general secretary AB Bardhan virtually gave a call to the cadre to prepare for mid-term polls.
<b>"Governments come and go but country remains", </b>Bardhan said in Ahmedabad, adding, <b>"if there are general elections along with the Gujarat Assembly poll, the cadre have to be ready."</b>
The message was loud and clear<b> "if the UPA Government goes ahead with the deal, mid-term poll was inevitable."</b>
Bardhan's grim warning to the Government was in sync with the hardening of stand within the Left on the crisis that has engulfed the UPA. Ahead of the Left Front meetings, several Left leaders seem reconciled to final parting of ways with the UPA Government.
<b>"The crisis can be averted for the time being, but in the long run, we don't see a compromise with the UPA on the nuke deal issue. The Left-Congress relations will never be the same again," </b>said a senior Left leader.
Sources said that with the hardliners calling the shot within the Left Front, on the menu of the leaders on Monday will primary be two agendas: Whether to withdraw support and let the Government fall, or keep the Government afloat for the time being by lending it issue-based support. A consensus was likely around the second option.
Sources said that few Left leaders were in favour of any compromise. The same hardline thinking prevailed even in the politburo meeting despite a section of the leaders from West Bengal arguing against precipitating the crisis, they said. Incidentally, CPI(M) patriarch Jyoti Basu had openly spoken against the possibility of withdrawal of support. But the CPI(M) resolution was nearly an ultimatum before formal withdrawal of support.
<b>Out of this exercise, what we will get is just 20,000 MW of power and that too by 2020. For this, we cannot compromise the country's sovereignty and foreign policy."</b>
Bardhan warned the UPA Government against beginning negotiations with the IAEA on an agreement on safeguards or with the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Asked if the Government should scrap the draft 123 agreement, he said such deals "need not be scrapped - they need not be implemented or operationalised".
link
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