On the eve of the crucial meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Left leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury are said to have told Congress President Sonia Gandhi this evening that if the BJP could keep its Hindutva issues (like the Ram Mandir) out of its “national agenda” for the sake of running a coalition, why is the Congress finding it so difficult to “delay” the nuclear deal?

At a meeting with the Congress President at 10, Janpath, the CPM leaders claimed they were being reasonable by merely insisting on delaying matters, rather than asking for scrapping of the deal.

While Sonia reportedly gave them a “patient hearing,” raising hopes among the Left that she was “receptive,” Congress sources later told The Indian Express that the call for delaying implementation effectively means “killing” the nuclear deal which was unacceptable to the ruling party. The Congress president told the Left that she would get back after talking to her party, which she did in the Core Committee meeting that was any how scheduled to discuss the political situation in Karnataka in the wake of Chief Minister Kumaraswamy’s decision to finally resign.

Sonia had also called on President Pratibha Patil earlier in the day fuelling speculation but the party downplayed it calling it a “routine” meeting where she briefed her on her trip to the United Nations.

At the end of the day, the Congress maintained its no-compromise stance on the IAEA talks later this month although CPI general secretary AB Bardhan stated today that the Left would withdraw support from the government if it went ahead with IAEA negotiations.

Earlier, Congress’s main interlocutor and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Karat and reiterated the need for the government to start IAEA talks. To which Karat threatened that the Congress would “have to face the consequences”.

At this point, sources said, Mukherjee told the Left that he could not unilaterally amend his party position and if the Left was adamant on this issue, then it ought to take it up with the Congress president. As a result, a hurried meeting was arranged between Left leaders and Sonia, who was at an Air Force Day reception then. The meeting happened on her return.

Ahead of the fourth United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-Left meeting tomorrow, Mukherjee had sought to impress on the Left that going ahead with negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) did not constitute operationalisation of the deal. He reiterated that the Left would be shown the text of the safeguards and taken on board before it is signed. Karat, however, refused to relent. Earlier in the day, the Left reacted strongly to the Congress President’s statement at Jhajjar in Haryana yesterday that those who opposed nuclear deal were the enemies of development. The nuclear deal was not in the interest of the country, said the Left.

Although the Congress sought to allay frayed tempers in the Left camp by issuing a statement that the remarks were meant in the context of Haryana and were not targeted at the Left, the message was unmistakable: if the Left wanted election, so be it.

Not to leave any doubt, some senior Congress leaders and strategists even raised the possibility of running a minority government at the Centre arguing that most of the political parties did not want an election. They even claimed that even if the Left voted against the UPA, others would pitch in by either supporting or abstaining. Brinkmanship apart, despite the sharp differences between them, both sides are trying to indicate a last-minute thaw for the simple reason that neither wants to be held responsible for foisting elections. Much of this, sources said, has to do with the fact that neither the Congress nor the Left wants to annoy UPA constituents, many of whom want to avoid early polls.