Stand unchanged, says Left

Tue, May 13 12:10 AM

THE LEFT on Sunday said its stand on the India-US nuclear deal remains unchanged despite former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam endorsing the deal and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging the Left, among others, to "listen to voices of wisdom". Reacting to the PM's remark, the CPI's general secretary A.B. Bardhan said the Left had great respect for Kalam "but just as he has words of wisdom, others in the country have given us words of wisdom too.

we came to the conclusion that there is no change in our stand". Bardhan said the May 28 meeting of the UPA-Left Coordination Committee is unlikely change their decision.

"We will meet the UPA to tell them about our stand and that it remains unchanged.

We can discuss it as many times as they want, but our stand will not change," he asserted.

The Left parties are slated to meet on May 23, ahead of their ninth meeting with the UPA. Meanwhile, Kalam told reporters on the sidelines of a technology awards function here that India had already demonstrated its nuclear capability and there is no need to go in for further tests.

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