CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat on Saturday said he was not at loggerheads with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on the nuclear power issue, making a distinction that “nuclear power does not mean nuclear deal with the US”.

Continuing his tirade against the deal, Karat said “we cannot trust this Government anymore” and the Left parties do not want to “go down in history” as being responsible for making India a “subordinate ally of the US for 40 years”. “Buddhadeb Bhattcharjee in Kolkata said we are for nuclear power. The media said we are at loggerheads. I am not against nuclear power. Nuclear power does not mean nuclear deal with the US. Our country has a three-stage indigenous nuclear programme, which is about our self-reliance in nuclear power. Our party discussed the issue of nuclear power, and there are some people (in the CPM) who do not even favour nuclear power,” Karat said.

At a CII meet in Kolkata, the West Bengal Chief Minister had said “we want nuclear power”. His statement was later endorsed by party patriarch Jyoti Basu.

Speaking at Jawaharlal Nehru University, his alma mater, Karat trained his guns against the media as well. He said when there was a proposal of FDI in media, two national newspapers from Delhi came to “us for opposing this, saying that the move will affect the sovereignty of the country”. “We mobilised support against the move, and the parliamentary standing committee headed by Somnath Chatterjee gave a report against it. Then the BJP came to power, they allowed 26 per cent FDI in media. Now, these newspapers are vying for FDI from companies like Dow Jones.”

... contd.