But it is the Congress party that is to be blamed, as it buckled under pressure from the Left and UPA allies. As a result, the PM now stands virtually isolated within his own government on this critical issue. The reasons being cited for the Congress relegating the deal to the back burner are that it would have an adverse impact on its minority vote bank, that post-election the party would again have to go to the Left parties if it runs short of numbers, and that the party cannot go to elections on an agenda that essentially does not belong to Nehru-Gandhi family. However, one question all Congress leaders are posing is, would the Left let the UPA government continue to function smoothly even if the deal is put into deep freeze? Of course, the Left parties have shown no inclination to make any such guarantee — apart of course from CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat’s reassuring statements on the continuity of the UPA government, and his character certificate to the PM. His words carry the arrogance of the victor.

The Congress would not have come to such a humiliating state of affairs had it kept its own cabinet ministers in the picture on the state of the play and kept its chin up on the deal. A telling example: on October 9, the day the Congress gave in to Left pressure, at an election rally in central India, a senior minister of the government, oblivious of the latest political developments, was equating Karat and comrades with nuclear deal opposers China and Pakistan. He, of course, had not read the Jhajjer clarification, which was dished out in the wee hours of the previous day. Ask any Congress minister except Pranab Mukherjee, whose mandate is to ensure the continuation of the present coalition, on the future of the deal, and chances are he or she would be as lost on the next steps as his or her other party colleagues.

... contd.