The much-awaited Left-UPA government talks on the Indo-US nuclear deal on Wednesday for ironing out differences over the agreement was postponed to June 25, sources said. Congress surces said the meeting with was to be held at External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's office was postponed due to the absence of leaders from the Left parties
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However, the Left parties denied the charge. They said barring Abani Roy, who has high blood sugar and has been advised complete rest by his doctors, all other senior leaders of the Left parties were ready to attend the meeting.
Commun ist Party of India-Marxist leaders claimed that there were differences within the Congress party who did not want to face the embarassment of Left parties withdrawing the support over the nuclear deal.
The leaders of Left parties, who maintain that they continue to oppose the deal, including the India-specific safeguards agreement with IAEA, will meet in the evening to review the situation.
As the government made a last ditch attempt to arrive at a consensus, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury met Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday night while National Security Advisor M K Narayanan talked to CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat.
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External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the government's pointsman on the deal, too had a meeting with Karat in New Delhi on Tuesday for about half an hour, after which he met Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal separately.
The meeting between Mukherjee and Karat was the second within 24 hours after their previous talks on Monday night when the Left's stand was once again conveyed to the government.
Mukherjee, who heads the UPA-Left Committee on the nuclear deal, is understood to have urged the Left parties to allow the government seal the India-specific safeguards agreement with International Atomic Energy Agency, a plea that was rejected by the Left leader.
The safeguards agreement with the IAEA is a step towards implementing the deal.
Karat also had an hour-long meeting with his CPI counterpart A B Bardhan on Tuesday, though the latter maintained that the nuclear issue did not come up for discussion.
With PTI inputs