El-Baradei, who reached Mumbai late tonight, will be in Delhi on Wednesday for his meetings with the Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon. He will also meet DAE chief Anil Kakodkar in Mumbai. These meetings still stood confirmed on El-Baradei’s schedule despite the political upheaval between the Congress and the Left.

So at the UPA-Left meeting tomorrow, the government will look to centre its argument around the question of “national prestige” in an international forum It will also tell the Left that talks with the IAEA will “address” the concern raised by the Left, not accentuate it.

The government will re-emphasise its key assurances:

•India will only hold talks with IAEA, there will be no formal signing of any agreement. The Government is willing to even consider holding back the ratification by the IAEA board if the Left allows talks to commence.

•Fuel supply assurances will be categorically stated in the safeguards agreement that will only act as an insurance against any unexpected move, as the Left fears, the US may make in the future.

•No irreversible step will be taken at the IAEA.

Broadly, sources said, the government is keen on impressing upon the Left that it should judge the nuclear deal after the IAEA safeguards agreement has been negotiated. Given that scientists of the Department of Atomic Energy will negotiate this agreement, sources said, doubts over guarding sovereignty ought to be settled if these officials come up with an acceptable document.

Moreover, the government will underline that a safeguards agreement is a must for civilian nuclear cooperation with any country, be it Russia, France or China. This aspect was also addressed in detail through a presentation at the last UPA-Left meeting,

While the safeguards agreement is part of the nuclear deal, sources said, the Left will be told that without this agreement, efforts to expand India’s nuclear power capacity through international cooperation will come to a naught. It may be noted that many top Left leaders have said they were not against nuclear power.

Sources said it is important for Left to realise that to stop India’s cooperation with a multilateral body for the sake of a bilateral agreement will hurt India’s prestige and credibility. The government is open to discuss actual implementation of the nuclear deal, but is against going back on commitments that could show the country in “poor light”.

Despite these arguments, not many in the government are hopeful of a breakthrough. The overall assessment is that the Left appreciates these details but has taken a political — and ideological — call from where it’s showing no signs of retracting.

Day after Sonia Gandhi’s attack on the Left:

• CPM veteran Jyoti Basu: If they want elections, we are ready. She (Gandhi) said one thing in the US, but changed her tune after returning

• CPI’s A B Bardhan: If the government goes ahead with the IAEA safeguard talks, we will have to withdraw support

• Joint statement by Left leaders Prakash Karat, Bardhan, Abani Roy, Debabrata Biswas: Those who advocate the deal should know that India is capable of developing nuclear energy primarily on a self-reliant basis. We need not surrender our vital interests to America on this