Backing the Prime Minister’s call for political consensus on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Congress today questioned the Left’s opposition to the deal and said “the deal will have to happen in the interest of the nation”.

At a public meeting in Kochi, Delhi Chief Minister and Congress leader Sheila Dikshit came down heavily on the Left, even questioning their patriotic credentials, the first such public attack by a Congress leader. The Communists, she said, would not have opposed the deal if it was between China and America.

“The Left owes its allegiance to countries other than India. Are they against their own country?” she asked. “Why do they oppose it for India and not for their supposed friends China and Russia?... they do something, mean something else and say a third thing”.

“Those who say they are fighting communal forces are trying to bring down the UPA government. We cannot understand the ideology of the Communists. They are not the nationalists we thought they were,” she said.

The nuclear deal, she said, would bring the benefits of electricity to farmers and factories. Increase in power supply was vital for the nation’s progress, she said. “There really is no reason for the Left to oppose the deal.”

Calling Communists the “forces of destruction”, Dikshit also slammed the Left’s government in West Bengal for “letting loose terror” on agricultural communities. She said the Left was out to thwart all Congress-led development initiatives and was criticising the UPA government at every step.

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