Warning the UPA ahead of their October 22 meeting over the nuclear deal, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said “the government will last as long as the CMP (common minimum programme) is carried out.”

“As one of the CMP deals with the independent foreign policy, operationalisation of the deal should not go ahead,” Karat said at a public meeting here, describing the deal as “skewed” in favour of the US.

He said “our position is clear and the deal is not in favour of people of India” even if China agreed to support an exemption to India in the upcoming Nuclear Suppliers Group meet.

He said the Left parties had been opposing the deal right from the beginning and it had to be seen in the “broader perspective and not in isolation”.

He said the Left was not keen to bring down the government. “That is not our intention... but at the same time, there cannot be any compromise”.

Meanwhile, the CPM has questioned the Prime Minister’s reported statement that the Doha WTO parleys on agriculture should proceed with removal of trade barriers. Writing in the party mouthpiece People’s Democracy, CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury said any compromise or “about turn” on the issue of concessions by the developed world would be “disastrous” for millions of Indian farmers.