Cong set for life after Left, says it has numbers

Sat, Jul 5 01:05 AM

The Congress can breathe easy. The Samajwadi Party's public endorsement on Friday of the India-US civil nuclear deal as one "in national interest" enables the Manmohan government to go to the IAEA with an easy mind and with the claim that it continues to enjoy a majority in the Lok Sabha.

While welcoming the latest convert to the deal on board, the Congress also got ready to bid farewell to the Left parties which had been extending outside support. The communists on Friday wrote to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the UPA-Left panel on the deal, to inform them by July 7 whether the government would approach the IAEA. The letter and the deadline raised the hackles of Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi who said, "sovereign governments or political parties cannot be subjected to deadlines.

" The government's response - when it comes - would set the stage for the formal parting of ways between the partners who have had a uneasy relationship for over four years. Sources said the communists were likely to pull the plug anytime between July 9 - when the PM returns from Japan where he will meet US President George W Bush on the sidelines of the G-8 summit - to July 14, the day they launch their nationwide agitation against the deal.

The first hurdle of getting the SP on board was crossed on Friday. Capping days of recent frenetic political activities, SP leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh around noon, and followed it up with another 30-minute meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence.

Before meeting the SP leaders, Sonia conferred with union ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A.K. Antony, and her political secretary Ahmed Patel.

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