Left-wing parties pull out of Indian coalition

[Naveed Yaseen]

NEW DELHI (July 09 2008): A bloc of Indian left-wing and communist parties announced Tuesday they were pulling out of the country's coalition government in protest against a nuclear energy deal with the United States. The decision, however, is not expected to cause the collapse of the Congress-led government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who last week managed to secure the support of a regional party.

Top Marxist leader Prakash Karat told reporters that the "time has come" for the political left to bail out of the coalition in the wake of Singh's decision to push ahead with implementing the controversial nuclear energy deal.

"We have decided to ask the president for an appointment so that we can formally withdraw support tomorrow," Karat said. Singh and US President George W. Bush in 2005 unveiled the agreement to share civilian nuclear technology - a deal that when finalised would see India entering the fold of global nuclear commerce after being shut out for decades.

Singh argues the pact is crucial for India's energy security. But the four-member bloc of left-wing parties, who have 59 seats in the 545-member parliament, insist the deal would bind India too closely to the United States, and have threatened repeatedly to force early elections if it moves forward. They say the deal runs counter to India's status as a figurehead in the non-aligned movement.

They also believe that allowing UN inspections of the country's civil nuclear programme - as demanded by the Americans - would harm India's strategic weapons programme. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday that the withdrawal of communist allies from his coalition would not affect the stability of the government. "I just learned it. I don't think it will affect the stability of our government," Singh told reporters in Japan on a visit to take part in a Group of Eight meeting.

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