“We reiterated our stand that the Government should not proceed with the operationalisation of the deal till the committee submits report and its findings are taken into account. We have been told that there were no formal talks with IAEA so far”, said D Raja national secretary of the CPI.

At the meeting, the Government argued that time was running out for the IAEA safeguard talks, and the process has to begin. More so because the safeguard negotiations take time, at least two to five weeks after which the text has to go before the IAEA board.

The Left sources said they opposed to this, saying the Government which waited so far can wait some more time for the committee to finalise its report and face a full-fledged debate in Parliament in the winter session.

The Government also tried to convince the Left about the advantage of nuclear power citing a report of the IAEA director general Mohamed El-Baradei, which gave a comparative advantage among the thermal, nuclear and hydro power.

The report also said more and more countries across the world are moving towards the nuclear power citing the example of France, Japan and Finland. Taking part in the discussion, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said the country should be “spared” from a general election, and on a lighter vein wanted to know “whether he should go ahead with next year’s Railway budget.” To this, a Left leader quipped: “Nobody should stop doing his or her work.” The lighter vein continued when a Left leader pointed out that it was Lalu who publicly spoke of elections at Koderma.

... contd.