ISLAMABAD: Political uncertainty has deepened in India with communist allies of the government hardening their stance against the nuclear deal with the United States. The communists say the deal, under which India gets access to civilian nuclear technology and fuel, gives the US leverage on India’s foreign policy, BBC reported.

Other allies have backed the agreement amid fears that communists may withdraw their support for the government. This is one of the worst crises facing India’s Congress-led government. It has had an uneasy relationship with its communist allies ever since it came to power in 2004. A flurry of meetings over the weekend failed to break the impasse, with the communists insisting on stalling the deal.

There were reports that government has suggested setting up a committee to discuss details of the deal to placate communist fears. But a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxists), key communist allies, said there should be no “movement” on the deal before they agreed on any such committee. “The government must first tell us whether it is prepared not to proceed with implementation of the deal,” Prakash Karat said.

Essentially, the communists want the government to stall the upcoming meetings with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as a follow-up to the deal. Analysts say stalling or calling off the deal may lead to the collapse of the Congress-led government, and isolation of India abroad.

The main opposition party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party, has said they are ready for elections if the communists withdraw support to the government. The crisis triggered last week by PM Manmohan Singh’s refusal to back out from the deal and even challenging the communists to withdraw support to his government.-SANA