Left, BSP join hands to fight UPA govt

Left, BSP join hands to fight UPA govt
Marxist leader Karat hailed Mayawati's opposition to the nuclear deal and said the two sides decided to cooperate in opposing the deal

New Delhi: The nuclear deal today brought the Left and the BSP together, which decided to jointly fight against the UPA government on the Indo-US agreement and other issues.

Reaching out to BSP, which has 17 MPs in the Lok Sabha, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat drove to Mayawati's residence here to hold the first meeting with her.

They decided to cooperate to ensure the defeat of the Congress-led government during the confidence vote in the Lok Sabha on July 22.

After the 45-minutes meeting, the Marxist leader hailed Mayawati's opposition to the nuclear deal and said the two sides decided that they should cooperate in the "struggle" against the deal.

"Mayawati reiterated her opposition to the deal. It was decided that there should be cooperation to stop the deal and in the struggle against the UPA government in this regard," Karat said.

Significantly, Karat's meeting with Mayawati came a day after the CPI(M) condemned the filing of a fresh affidavit by the CBI against the BSP chief in a disproportionate assets case.

The CBI action was also condemned by CPI, whose General Secretary A B Bardhan raised questions over the timing of the filing of the affidavit.

He said the Left parties were in touch with Mayawati who has assured them that BSP will vote against the government during the trial of strength.