NEW DELHI: India’s government and its Communist allies yesterday failed to break the deadlock over the civilian nuclear deal with the United States. Nuclear impasse between the ruling coalition and the Left continued with yesterday’s meeting of United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-Left coordination committee ending without reaching any decision.

At the end of talks, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee read out a brief statement, that though discussions were held on all aspects of Indo-US nuclear deal, a final decision is yet to be taken. “The next meeting of the committee to be convened in due course will finalize its findings,” Mukherjee said. He did not take any questions.

Ahead of this crucial meeting, the day was marked by hectic parleys between different groups making last-minute efforts to reach some agreement. The day began with Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) General-Secretary Prakash Karat driving down to the residence of Mukherjee to make the Left bloc’s stand clear on the deal. Defense Minister A.K. Antony was also present at the meeting.

Karat categorically laid out the Left was against any compromise formula that would allow the government to finalize the safeguards agreement required for the nuke deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Dismissing the formula as “meaningless,” the Left maintained that they “understood” the safeguards agreement would automatically lead to deal’s progress immediately after it received the IAEA board of governors’ approval, sources said.

Mukherjee and Antony went to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi and informed her of their discussions with Karat. Mukherjee called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the afternoon and apprised him of the Left having rejected the compromise formula.

Wary of the government’s moves on the deal, the Left demanded a written assurance from the government declaring that it would not operationalize the 123 agreement.

Ahead of the UPA-Left meeting, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader A.B. Bardhan said that the Left leaders were waiting for a response from the government to their demand for a written assurance.