Mulayam holds talks with Sonia about support

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday called on his Congress party counter part Sonia Gandhi to discuss his party's support to the contentious Indo-US nuclear deal.

The two leaders met after a gap of five years, signalling thaw in the frozen ties, which has revived the hopes of survival of the Congress party-led coalition government at the centre even if the Left Front goes ahead with its threat of withdrawing its crucial outside support.

On a day full of hectic political activities, Mulayam-Sonia meeting took place even while the Left Front dithered on making the announcement after its scheduled meeting.

The four-party Left Front, which has 59 lawmakers in Lok Sabha, was expected to pull the plug on the government it had sustained for 50 months yesterday. Instead, it chose to delay it by shooting off a letter to the government seeking clarification if and when the government intended to approach the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The letter signed by general secretaries of all four Marxist parties is addressed to Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is the government's chief interlocutor on the nuclear deal. "We wish to know definitely whether the government is proceeding to seek the approval of the safeguards agreement by the Board of Governors of the IAEA. Please let us know the position by 7th July, 2008," the letter states.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to leave for Tokyo on July 7 to take part in the G-8 summit, where he is expected to meet US President George Bush on July 9 on the sidelines of the G-8 meeting.

Left leaders were not sure what their next course of action would be in case the government chose not to reply to their letter, although it is just a matter of time before the Left parts ways with the Congress party in view of the government's decision to go ahead with the nuclear deal.