New Delhi, March 3: The nuclear deal has returned to haunt UPA-Left ties and the future of the government following the “successful” round of talks in Vienna.

The Congress resumed its hardsell on the deal today and the Manmohan Singh government sought to de-Americanise nuclear cooperation in order to secure a political consensus. But the government’s effort met with immediate and stiff opposition from the Left.

Making a suo motu statement on “foreign policy-related developments” in Parliament, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government wanted to broaden the scope of nuclear cooperation beyond the US, and argued that IAEA safeguards and guidelines from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) would enable India to have nuclear cooperation with countries “including Russia, USA, France, UK, etc”.

“The conclusion of such an agreement (IAEA safeguards) will enable the NSG to amend its guidelines for civil nuclear commerce in favour of India,” the minister said, adding that bilateral agreements for such trade had been discussed with many of the countries mentioned and were in various stages of finalisation.

He said the government would continue to seek “broad political consensus within the country” to take forward such engagement with “other countries”.

The CPM reacted strongly to Mukherjee’s statement, urging the government again “not to proceed with the nuclear deal”.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat was quick to reject the new move to build consensus.

Asked whether the government could go ahead with the IAEA and NSG talks to broaden nuclear cooperation with countries other than the US, Karat tersely told The Telegraph: “The IAEA agreement and NSG clearance cannot be separated from the US deal.”

The CPM’s strong iteration of opposition to the deal comes at a time a slew of American leaders have pointedly been reminding the UPA government of the need to push the deal because “the clock is ticking and time is running out”.

US assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher arrives here tomorrow on a two-day visit that could see more such reminders to New Delhi. Boucher will review progress on the implementation of the 123 Agreement.

Boucher will hold talks with his counterpart Gayatri Kumar, the joint secretary (Americas) in the foreign ministry, and is expected to meet foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon.

Mukherjee told Parliament that in the government’s understanding, the Hyde Act was not binding on India.

“Let me take this opportunity to reiterate that the Hyde Act is an enabling provision that is between the executive and the legislative organs of the US government. India’s rights and obligations regarding civil nuclear cooperation with the US arise only from the bilateral 123 Agreement that we have agreed upon with the US,” he said.

The Left parties were not convinced. “We don’t agree with the government that the Hyde Act’s implications do not exist for India. We don’t think that the government should proceed to operationalise the deal,” CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury said.

The CPM politburo said in a statement soon after Mukherjee’s comments: “It has become the practice for the Indian government to reiterate that the Hyde Act has no relevance for India and it is not applicable to us. No one else believes this to be so.”

Asked for his party’s opinion on a nuclear deal with countries like Russia, Yechury said Moscow had no Hyde Act.

“If the government proceeds in the direction of finalising the deal, we will be free to decide our own course of action and the course is known to the government,” CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said.