CHENNAI, NEW DELHI, OCT 29: CPM general secretary Prakash Karat today said there was no threat to the UPA government following differences with the Left over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

“There is no threat to the UPA government,” Karat told reporters after meeting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi in Chennai. They discussed the situation in the wake of the nuclear deal row.

Karat, however, ruled out the possibility of a Third Front in the immediate future. “We are meeting leaders of various political parties to evolve a commonality of approach when the issue comes up for debate in the winter session of Parliament,” he said.

Karunanidhi said the “standoff” between the UPA and the Left should end. “I am in touch with both sides regarding this,” he said, adding that he would take up the matter with UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Meanwhile, as part of efforts to enlist BJP support for the deal, US Ambassador David C Mulford today met party chief Rajnath Singh in New Delhi.

The party, however, maintained that it cannot accept the deal in its “present form” and would oppose it when it comes up for debate in Parliament. “The government bungled by not making political consensus and by mortgaging the country’s nuclear sovereignty. We cannot support the deal. It must be renegotiated,” party leader Venkaiah Naidu told a press conference.

Mulford, who met L K Advani last week, held an hour-long meeting with Singh to “understand the party’s concern as well as its position on the nuclear deal.”

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger also met Advani today to make the point that the deal should be allowed to go through. The 45-minute meeting came a day after Kissinger said questions could be raised over India’s trustworthiness if it failed to push the deal.

Big deal?If BJP reworks its nuclear politics, the most important implication may be for next Parliament.

PM Hopeful, SAYS We Will reach a consensus soon

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said he still believes that the UPA and Left will reach a “consensus soon” on the nuclear deal. “I am still of the opinion that we will reach a consensus soon. The Indo-US nuclear deal will considerably improve and consolidate India’s crucial energy supply. And what is good for India, is good for the world,” said Singh, in an interview with Der Spiegel’s South Asia Bureau chief Padma Rao Sundarji, ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s India visit.