Claiming that India could face fuel supply blockade as experienced in the case of the Tarapur nuclear power plant, the CPI (M) asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to walk out of the Indo-US nuclear deal claiming it had almost the same conventionalities.

Maintaining the 123 Agreement as being "almost identical" to Tarapur accord where India was "forced to run from pillar to post for fuel after the US unilaterally terminated the Tarapur 123 Agreement," the CPI(M) Politburo said India was now seeking fuel supply assurances and other terms, including the right to reprocess spent fuel, based only on this experience.

But the documents accompanying the US Presidential Determination have made the American "intentions" clear -- this 123 Agreement is no different from the earlier Tarapur one, with all the Tarapur problems.

"And India can again land into the Tarapur mess, as the right of the US to terminate the agreement is an unfettered one," the Politburo said in a statement in New Delhi.

Maintaining that a "different interpretation" of the 123 Agreement by India would "in no way bind the US as a supplier", it demanded that the Prime Minister "fulfil his pledge to the nation that he will walk away from the nuclear deal if it does not meet India's expectations".

Asserting that all points raised by the Left parties have been confirmed by the documents accompanying the US Presidential Determination, it said these have "exposed the hollowness of the claims made by the Prime Minister in Parliament."

The CPI (M) Politburo claimed that the Presidential documents submitted to the US Congress have made it amply clear that the terms of the 123 agreement are fully in conformity with the Hyde Act and "violate" the crucial commitments made by the Prime Minister in Parliament.

... contd.