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New Delhi: The stalemate over the landmark Indo-US civil nuclear deal continued yesterday with the Left refusing to soften its belligerence despite a meeting between communist leader Prakash Karat and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a bid to break the deadlock over the issue.
Sources in the Left said there had been no change in their stance over the nuclear deal even after Manmohan Singh's meeting with Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) general secretary Karat. The four Left parties had earlier rejected the deal and asked the government not to proceed with it.
According to sources, in order to mount pressure on the government, the Left may pull out of the coordination committee with the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA). That will be a major step but it does not indicate that the Left will withdraw support to Manmohan Singh's coalition government.
In a strongly-worded politburo statement, the CPM said: "It is difficult to agree with the prime minister that this agreement has no impact on our independent foreign policy, especially when the US officials are busy selling the agreement to the US Congress on the strategic value of India aligning with the US as a consequence of the agreement."
The statement came immediately after Karat's breakfast meeting with Manmohan Singh.
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