The breakfast meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Prakash Karat on the nuclear deal has failed to break the deadlock. The focus now is on the weekend CPM politburo meet, where the party is expected to decide the future course of action.
Efforts to end the stalemate will continue behind the scenes. Sources said the Left Parties, unhappy with the prime minister's statement daring them to withdraw their support to his government, are unlikely to pull out of the government. But sources say they may scale down the level of cooperation with the government something they done to protest against disinvestments, but returned.
After his meeting with Singh, Karat briefed Communist Party of India (CP1) general secretary A B Bardhan who, when accosted by journalists, tersely remarked, "They want to go ahead with the deal. As the PM said in Parliament, they think it is a great deal they have done. But we don't think so."
The Left party came out with a strong statement dismissing Singh's views in Parliament and asked the Government not to go ahead with the deal.
The meeting at the PM's Race Course Road residence came amid a war of words between the two sides, topped by Singh's challenge to the crucial Left allies to withdraw support to the government on the deal. Singh is learnt to have told Karat that he has fulfilled the assurances given to Parliament and the Left parties.
"What else can I do," he reportedly told the CPM leader, seeking the Left parties' support on the deal. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also attended the meeting. The Prime Minister's Office came out with a statement that Karat and Prime Minister "reiterated that efforts would be made to sort out the issues".
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