Even as External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is back after buying some more time to “arrive at a consensus” on Indo-US nuclear deal issues, fissures appear in the Left with the RSP and Forward Bloc (FB) accusing big brothers — the CPI(M) and CPI — of “softening” their stand on the issue and seeking an explanation.

The rift comes at a time when the Left parties were about to sit together to prepare a questionnaire seeking clarifications from the Government on the deal, following a decision taken after the recently held UPA-Left coordination committee meeting.

Accusing them of creating “ideological confusion” among the Left ranks, the RSP and FB feel statements made by both CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and CPI general secretary A B Bardhan that they were not against the IAEA agreement were “totally unwarranted”.

Bardhan, while addressing the party congress in Hyderabad, had said his party had no problems with the safeguards agreement. “Our problem is with the Indo-US nuclear agreement,” he had said. Karat too, on another occasion, had said his party was not against the safeguards agreement with the IAEA. “But our problem is with 123 Agreement,” he had said. Significantly, Bardhan’s statement had come a day after Karat’s.

The RSP and FB, known for their “pure Left positions”, have decided to get the differences explained in the next meeting of the Left parties scheduled to be held in the first week of April.

“The remarks made by Bardhan and Karat in this context were totally unwarranted. We do not agree with it. They did not even discuss this before changing their stance and they will have to explain,” RSP general secretary T J Chandrachoodan told The Indian Express.

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