Kolkata: CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat appeared to suggest that there was no possibility of snap polls on the Indo-US nuclear deal and that the Left wants a discussion in Parliament under a rule that will not have any voting.
"The AICC is having a session on November 17. We are having our party congress by the end of March. The CPI is also going to have its party congress. So nobody is talking of elections," he told a press conference.
Karat, who a couple of days ago praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's integrity and spoke in a conciliatory tone, was asked whether there was a possibility of snap polls by the first quarter of 2008.
"I have not talked of withdrawal of support (from the UPA government). At the last central committee meeting of the party in Kolkata, we have not talked of withdrawal of support," he said.
A meeting of the UPA-Left Committee on the nuclear deal is slated on November 16 and "We are hopeful that we will be able to do something in that meeting. We will try to arrive at some conclusion.
"We are prepared to have more meetings to arrive at a conclusion to resolve the issue," he said.
"It took two years for the UPA government to negotiate with the US administration to reach the 123 agreement. But the UPA-Left committee has only worked for two months. We are prepared to spend as much time as necessary as we think that the issue is very vital for us," he said.
Karat said that his party wanted a "common approach" to the nuclear deal in Parliament during the winter session beginning November 15.
"We are not insisting on voting (in Parliament on the deal). It can be a non-voting resolution.
"Opinion and views of the Parliament on this issue must be elicited. All the parties representing Parliament will express their opinion. From that, we can make a general sense of the Parliament," he said.
He, however, ruled out holding any discussion with the BJP on the issue of arriving at a consensus of political parties when the atomic accord comes up for discussion in Parliament.
"I don't think that there is a need to discuss (about the deal) with the BJP. What is their stand on the issue is known," Karat said, adding that he was not aware of any change in the stance of the saffron party. "Officially they (BJP) have asked for renegotiation of the deal."
Replying to a question, the CPI-M leader said "We have said do not operationlise the deal. What is operationalisation, all that is being discussed. Let the UPA-Left committee's work be over".
About a third alternative to the Congress and BJP, Karat said that his party was working in that direction, saying such an alternative would be "a broadbased platform on common issues".
"But it is not going to be an alliance with some parties for the elections," he clarified. "We have an understanding of what the third alternative should be. We have been working for it and we will continue to work for it. But it is not going to be some alliance with some parties for the elections," Karat said.
"It is much more wider and deeper thing. We will continue to work for that. But there is no Third Front as such. Third Front is not being created now. We are working for more broad-based platform on common policy issues we can bring some parties together.
"In our party Congress resolution, we are working towards that. But we have said it is not electoral compulsion or requirement now," the Marxist leader said. He said the party's Politburo would meet on November 11 and 12 in which the final date for the party Congress would be announced.
Observing that the US was trying to make India a strategic ally to counter China, he said "USA can do what they want. We should not be party to that. This will not be in our country's interest. In the strategic document of the US (administration), they want India to join. That is not in our interest".
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