Face The Nation: Must Parliament judge N-deal?

Is there a solution to the nuclear deal deadlock in the making? May be. With the UPA and the Congress turning comfortably numb to Left’s grouse against the deal, the comrades are cosying up to the Third Front alliance, UNPA, as a desperate measure.

UNPA Chairperson Mulayam Singh met CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat and his CPI counterpart A B Bardhan in Delhi on Thursday and both agreed the pact should be debated in Parliament and Government should be guided by the popular sentiment.

Lending credence to the speculation is an editorial in the latest issue of CPM mouthpiece People's Democracy, where CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury has said: Let a majority in Parliament decide whether the deal is acceptable to India or not. This is the only way that the present impasse can end.

He also described the US deadline on the deal an insult to Indian democracy. So with the government toying with the idea of a brief winter session of Parliament soon after Diwali, the question is will a debate in Parliament resolve the deadlock?

Vote or Debate: The jury is out

CNN-IBN show Face the Nation analysed what lies ahead with a panel comprising Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, CPI-M MP Hannan Mollah, Samajwadi Party MP Virendra Bhatia and BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar.

The Left-UNPA parleys came at a time when a growing unease has been witnessed in ruling UPA on the nuclear issue with non-Congress constituents of the alliance having certain reservations.

Meanwhile the BJP hasn’t remained a mute spectator to the drama and has accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government of "misleading" the nation. The party on Thursday demanded a statement on Government’s intentions.

Javadekar reiterated the party stand and said the debate in Parliament will be allowed to take place only if there’s a voting. “We want a debate, but we also want voting. Otherwise how will you assess Parliament’s wish? If there’s a resolution, we’ll discuss the topic, oppose the deal and demand renegotiation,” he said, adding the future course of action will be taken when the Government proposal is made known.

So while the BJP readies its ammo, Yechury’s editorial confirms a possible discussion. He writes: UPA-Left committee to exmanie the implications of this deal has at its last meeting discussed the possibility of a discussion on the deal in the forthcoming Winter Session of Parliament.

So just why did the debate not happen all this while? Singhvi defended the party vehemently. “We need to be very clear about facts and concepts. Anybody who has seen the records of August and September - when Parliament sessions were held – will find Congress and UPA were clamouring for a debate on the nuclear deal. I can testify that as I was the lead speaker in Rajya Sabha. We waited for two weeks but the debate didn’t happen because BJP obstructed and stopped Parliament everyday,” he argued.

Singhvi also argued BJP was misleading the nation asking for a vote. “For 60 years of our republic, there’s never been a vote on an international treaty,” he said.

But the Third Front representative, SP’s Virendra Bhatia disagreed. He said the debate must be conducted through a vote. “We should certainly debate it in Parliament but with the voting right of whether to approve or not to approve. No doubt a treaty has never been raised in Parliament before, but the logic is that Government should have majority in Parliament. Now the question is whether Congress minus the Left commands majority in the House. The answer is in negative,” he argued.

Angrily reacting to the Left Parties reported decision to have a "common approach" with UNPA on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Congress has already made its displeasure known. The party has said the Communists need not become "desperate".

Left + UNPA: Trouble for UPA?

But with the bomhomie between Left and UNPA rising, what should the Congress make of it? What does the Left want of the UNPA and what is this talk of floor coordination? A day after promising support to Left on the nuclear deal, TDP president and UNPA convener Chandrababu Naidu met CPI general secretary A B Bardhan and the two sides agreed that the pact should be debated in Parliament and government should be guided by the sense of the House.

But Hannan Mullah of CPM remained politically correct and said it’s not wise to read too much into Left-UNPA interactions. “We have continuous dialogue with several partners of UNPA on several issues. It’s nothing new and we have certain common understanding,” he said.

On the issue of whether the Left would side with BJP and press for a vote on the deal, Mullah remained as vague as other panelists. “We haven’t decided on it yet. Our High Command would decide on that. Voting or not, will be decided by Speaker. If the majority sentiment is that, we will respect that.”

This interaction made Singhvi react angrily. Added to his anger were allegations that Government is encouraging this confusion by not giving a clear picture to the US. Singhvi defended by saying, “There’s no confusion. None of your (the anchor’s) questions have elicited categorical responses. That’s where you need to probe further.”

So will a debate on the floor of the House make way for N-deal or will it hit yet another roadblock? The jury is out.

SMS results:

Will a Parliament debate resolve the nuclear deal deadlock?

Yes: 20

No: 80

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)

#Indo-US nuclear deal #Parliament #UPA #Left #BJP