New Delhi, July 27: Late last evening, the Congress and the top echelons of the Centre had an inkling that the Left’s plan to put them in a spot with a parliamentary resolution opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal may not materialise.

The apparent source of their hope was “divisions” in the Left on the proposal and the decision that this time the government and the Congress must speak “in one voice” on the deal and not allow their ally to get the better of them.

Today, as the Left’s “game plan” unravelled ? with some constituents opposing the resolution and a “minority” within the CPM pitching for it ? Congress sources took comfort in their assessment that “unity pays off at times”.

That former foreign minister K. Natwar Singh cast his lot with the Opposition on the deal helped decide the Congress’s mind, the sources said.

Natwar, out on a limb after his inglorious exit, had reportedly sided with the Left and the Samajwadi Party on every possible occasion to embarrass his party and its chief, Sonia Gandhi.

Even the doubting “Thomases”, who may have spoken a thing or two against the US in the parliamentary affairs committee meeting last evening, were quiet.

Arjun Singh, Vayalar Ravi and Jairam Ramesh ? considered “Left-of-Centre” ? said nothing on the deal. “The clincher was Natwar siding with Amar Singh (the Samajwadi Party general secretary),” a source said, referring to his decision to attend a Left-Samajwadi- BJP meeting in Rajya Sabha chairperson Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s chamber yesterday.

A cabinet minister, who had privately voiced his concern about the deal, today defended it, saying: “Why should a government bind itself on something which is still to be properly inked and sealed? In diplomatic terms, there should be elbow room for manoeuvrability. Perhaps, more than any party, the Congress knows what national interests are and where they lie.”

The Congress’s perception was that for far too long it had “indulged” the Left, allowed its leaders to have their way on critical issues and given them scope to indulge in realpolitik.

“The examples are legion. When the Left and the Samajwadi Party teamed up to protest President George W. Bush’s visit earlier this year and held a huge rally, we panicked. There was a whisper campaign against the so-called sellout to the US within the party,” a source said.

Later, the party noted with regret, that it had allowed itself to “play into the hands” of the Left and the Samajwadi Party.

There was also a feeling in the Congress that it was time it went on the “front foot” in defending the government and the Prime Minister instead of giving an impression that the government and the party were not in sync.

Therefore, when the proposal for the resolution came up, the Congress decided that irrespective of the merits (or demerits) of the Left-Samajwadi-BJP’s charges, the party must stick up for Singh.