After asking the United Progressive Alliance government to put on hold the Indo-US nuclear deal for six months, Communist Party of India-Marxist on Saturday hinted that it wants New Delhi to wait even further -- till the new adminstration assumes office in the US in 16 months.
"We say let's see what the attitudes of the new president, new administration, new dispensation that comes in the US are towards the deal. What's the great hurry?" CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury asked at a seminar on Indo-US Nuclear Agreement in Bangalore.
Yechury said while opinion polls in the US showed George W Bush as the "most hated" president in recent memory, for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he (Bush) is the "best president."
According to Yechury, the government itself has said that it would take a minimum of one decade before the nuclear power generation would start as a result of the deal.
"If that's the case, why are you (government) rushing through it," Yechury asked at the seminar, organised by Bangalore unit of People for India Forum.
Yechury said if the Government believes that "delay" means the deal "cannot be done through", it should raise the same "slogan" that it maintained during WTO negotiations -- "No deal is better than a bad deal."
CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat last week had asked the UPA government to refrain from taking any step for the next six months to operationalise the deal.
