NEWS

UPA-Left avoid showdown, to meet again

By Onkar Singh in New Delhi
June 25, 2008

Wednesday's critical United Progressive Alliance-Left meeting on the Indo-US nuclear deal ended with both sides agreeing to meet again soon. The date for the same is yet to be finalised.

The next meeting will be a decisive one, sources said, since both the UPA and the Left on Wednesday discussed all aspects of the deal.

External Affairs Minsister Pranab Mukherjee and Communist Party of India-Marxist's Sitaram Yechuri  addressed the media soon after the meeting, but took no questions.

Meanwhile, Bardhan told NDTV later that the Left Parties saw no compromise being worked out on the nuke deal.

Describing the meeting "volatile", the CPI leader said the government appeared determined to go ahead with the deal.

UNI adds: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said the United Progressive Alliance-Left panel would have another meeting ''in due course'' to finalise its findings on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The ninth meeting of the panel, which lasted more than 90 minutes, ''completed its discussion on all aspects'' of the deal, Mukherjee said.

Mukherjee read out a brief statement, the Hindi version of which was narrated by Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechuri, sitting beside Mukherjee.

Yechuri said the next meeting of the panel would finalise the findings. He said all members of the panel, except Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar who is away in the United Kingdom, attended the meeting.

The next meeting would be held when all the members are present, Yechuri added.

Earlier report: Critical UPA-Left meeting on nuclear deal begins

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

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