2009 Poll Prospects And Alignments

[acharya]

NC undecided over supporting UPA in trust vote

New Delhi (PTI): National Conference chief Omar Abdullah on Thursday refused to disclose which way his party would vote on the UPA government's confidence motion but said it would actually be a vote on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

"We will review the issue in its entirety and decide on our stand... the trust vote will be a vote on the deal," he told reporters after meeting CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat at the latter's office here.

Abdullah, who met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee last evening, said it was an international deal and "if we vote in its favour, the government stays. But we will take a decision later."

At their meeting, Karat is understood to have briefed the President of the NC, which has two members in Lok Sabha, about the Left's stand on the issue. The top Left leader also presented him a copy of the book released today, which compiles the notes exchanged between the UPA and the Left parties at the meetings of the Committee on the nuclear deal.

To questions on the Muslims' stand on the deal with the US, Abdullah said, "if it is good, it will be good for the nation and equally good for both Muslims and the Hindus."

He said his party looked at the Indo-US deal only as a deal and not a communal issue.

Mukherjee had met the National Conference President yesterday and sought his party's support during the trust vote.