New Delhi, May 10: The Samajwadi Party is using the nuclear deal to get back at the Left, its “natural ally”, for having “pressured” the government to table the women’s reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha.

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s party today declared it was ready to hold talks with the government on the India-US nuclear deal, which it has been opposing along with the Left.

At its recent parliamentary board meeting, senior Samajwadi leaders had accused the CPM of “betrayal” for not consulting them on the bill that they are vehemently opposed to.

Now, the party has decided to show the communists, with whom it has been trying to cobble a third front, that it cannot be taken for granted.

“So long, only the Left leaders had been discussing the nuclear deal with the UPA and we were informed about the talks’ outcome by them. Now, if the government invites us to talks, we are willing to hear their viewpoint,” Samajwadi general secretary Amar Singh said after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“If they (the government) inform us about some new element in the matter, we will discuss it in our party. We will also discuss it with the CPM even though they did not take us into confidence on the matter of the women’s bill being moved in the Rajya Sabha,” he added.

Amar asserted that his party was not the CPM’s “pichhlaggu” (sidekick) and it was only a “coincidence” that they had similar views on the nuclear deal.

The Samajwadi leader said the Left’s slight over the women’s bill had “pained” the party, but he added that it would not threaten the UNPA, which is yet to formally come into being. Amar said the members of the third front would continue to collaborate on issues of common concern like price rise.

The Samajwadi’s nuclear-deal gesture has come at a time when the deadline for formalising the agreement is knocking on the UPA’s door as it grapples with stiff opposition from the Left, which lends the government outside support.

With the Samajwadi Party and the Congress warming up to each other in recent days, there has been speculation that the ruling coalition is courting Mulayam for support on the deal.

Amar also told the Prime Minister today that he fears a threat to his life and those of senior party leaders following withdrawal of their ecurity by the Mayavati government in Uttar Pradesh.

“Mayavati is our enemy number one in UP just as Raj Thackeray is in Mumbai. Her opponents are being killed in UP. If anything happens to me tomorrow, she will be responsible for it,” Amar said.