Amid a raging political battle between them, the Left and the ruling United Progressive Alliance are slated to meet on Tuesday to deliberate on the impact of the US domestic law and the nuclear deal on India's foreign and security policies.
Both sides have already exchanged notes on the subject to be taken up for discussion on Tuesday by the 15-member UPA-Left Committee headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi describing "elements" opposing the nuclear deal as being opposed to development and the Left parties reminding her that India was capable of producing nuclear energy on its own and there was no need to "surrender" vital national interests to the US on that plea.
In their note, the four parties supporting the Congress-led coalition from outside have asked the government whether it can assure that India's foreign and security policies would not be compromised with the global American interests due to the Indo-US defence and nuclear agreements.
Maintaining that strategic ties with US would be contrary to the Common Minimum Programme, the Left parties have referred to the provisions of the US domestic law that the annual certification of the 123 agreement by the American president will follow only if India's foreign policy was "congruent" to American interests.
The stand taken by the government on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestinian issue, Look-East policy, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and Non-Aligned Movement have also been questioned by the Left parties.
Sources said the government needs to have a timeframe to have negotiations with International Atomic Energy Agency to enable them to go to the Nuclear Suppliers' Group.
The US Congress is also scheduled to take up the issue by January end.
So they feel that the broad outlines of the timeframe could be worked out when IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei meets government leaders in Delhi during his visit this week.
Senior Congress leaders including some CWC members wanted a tough stand to be taken that the deal cannot be left in limbo and has to be operationalised.
"There is no question of going back on the deal. It is time to call the Left's bluff," a senior CWC member said.
Refuting the Left's charges that the deal was not in national interests, the leader said the government should face a trust vote in Parliament with the help of "well-wishers" who are against early polls.