A smiling Prakash Karat and the CPI’s AB Bardhan and D Raja with the Congress’s AK Antony (foreground) after the meeting. Picture by Rajesh Kumar

New Delhi, Aug. 30: The Left did not tom-tom its “victory” but there was smug satisfaction that it had got its way by forcing the government to press the “pause” button on the nuclear deal — at least for now.

The ambiguous nature of the joint statement does leave scope for the government to make a similar claim of victory. The statement says: “The operationalisation of the deal will take into account the committee’s findings.”

But Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas said: “It is clear from the statement that the government will not proceed to operationalise the deal till the committee gives its findings.”

Other Left leaders said they were “very satisfied” with the outcome.

Sources in the CPM said they were satisfied that the government had finally heeded the Left’s concerns on the deal.

According to the sources, the Left was happy that, for now, the UPA government would not proceed with the deal.

As for the timeframe for the political committee to complete its task, Biswas said: “Let the committee be set up. The timeframe will be finalised in the first meeting of the committee.”

On whether the crisis was over now, the Forward Bloc leader said: “We never said the government is in crisis. We said the country is in crisis.”

The Left parties have decided to launch a countrywide campaign, signalling that their rhetoric on the deal and its perceived implications on the country’s foreign policy would continue in the days to come.

They have decided to bring out jathas along the eastern coast to protest against the joint naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal from September 4 to 9. The US Navy is scheduled to take part in the exercises.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat will lead a rally from Chennai and his CPI counterpart A.B. Bardhan will lead another from Calcutta. Both will culminate in Visakhapatnam.

For the anti-deal campaign and agitation, the CPM plans to bring out five folders explaining the adverse consequences that the nation would face if India went ahead with the agreement. These folders would be published in all major regional languages, a CPM leader said.