The Left parties on Monday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of telling "blatant lies" during the trust vote debate in Parliament and said his "short and dull" speech was a reflection of his "low confidence level".
Senior Left leaders said his speech while moving the confidence motion in Lok Sabha was a "reiteration" of his belief in unilateralism by violating the understanding that had been reached under the Common Minimum Programme.
"Dr Singh's statement is a reiteration of his belief in unilateralism. He violated the understanding by going ahead with nuclear deal when there was no agreement between parties on the issue," senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Nilotpal Basu said while talking to PTI.
On Dr Singh's remarks that veteran Marxists Jyoti Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet were among the architects of the ruling coalition, he said that the promises given to them were violated. "A minority government cannot go ahead with the deal unilaterally. There was a CMP and it has been violated."
Revolutionary Socialist Party general secretary T J Chandrachoodan said the "sagacity and vision" shown by the veteran Marxist leaders were "blatantly betrayed" by Dr Singh, compelling the Left to withdraw support to the government.
Terming the prime minister's speech as a "short, dull" one with "deceitful utterances", he said he expected it to be a "soul searching" exercise. "He has nothing to say. The speech conveyed nothing. He was repeating blatant lies," he alleged.
Forward Bloc secretary G Devarajan said Dr Singh's short speech showed his "low confidence level" and accused him of even hiding truth before Parliament.
"Dr Singh is saying that he will come back to Parliament before going to the Nuclear Suppliers Group on the deal. But once it clears the International Atomic Energy Agency stage it is on auto-pilot mode and we have nothing to do," Devarajan said.
Chandrachoodan said that the prime minister was "misleading" the country on the issue.
Terming the prime minister's statement that he will come back to Parliament before going to the NSG as "deceitful", he said "Dr Singh is presenting us a fait accompli."
"He is forcing us to go ahead with a deal which cannot be reversed once it goes beyond the IAEA stage." Chandrachoodan said.