Yechury

Calcutta, Sept. 2: The Left and the United Progressive Alliance will tomorrow name the members of their joint committee on the nuclear deal, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said here today.

The politburo member added that his party expected a two-day debate on the 123 Agreement in both Houses of Parliament, most likely on September 10 and 11.

Yechury said the six Left leaders who regularly attended the Left-UPA coordination committee meetings in Delhi should be picked as members of the nuclear deal committee.

These leaders are CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, Yechury himself, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan and his party colleague D. Raja, Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas and RSP leader Abani Roy.

The committee will assess whether the deal might bring India under the thumb of the US, as the Left fears it will. The communists have warned the government not to “operationalise” the agreement before the committee has made up its mind.

“The three-point terms of reference of the committee would be to assess the impact of the US Hyde Act on the Indo-US 123 Agreement, the impact of both on Indian nuclear self-sufficiency, and the impact of the entire deal on Indian foreign policy and security,” Yechury said.

He added that the committee would not go into whether India needs nuclear power. The Prime Minister had on Friday made a strong pitch for nuclear energy.

The Congress will choose its representatives in the committee tomorrow, Yechury said.

“The Congress core committee could not sit and decide its nominees since the Prime Minister was in Tarapur (on Friday) and Soniaji was in Andhra Pradesh yesterday while Pranabbabu was in Calcutta today,” Yechury said on the sidelines of the Indo-Vietnam Friendship festival, also attended by foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Earlier, the CPM leader met former chief minister Jyoti Basu at his Salt Lake residence and discussed the party’s strategy on the nuclear deal with state party secretary Biman Bose and chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.