Brushing aside the government's last-ditch efforts at persuasion ahead of Wednesday's meeting, the Left parties on Tuesday maintained that they continued to oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal, including the India-specific safeguards agreement with International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Left's stand was once again conveyed to the government when Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi on Monday night. Mukherjee, who heads the United Progressive Alliance-Left Committee on the nuclear deal, is understood to have urged the Left parties to allow the government to seal the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA, a plea that was rejected by the Left leader.