Karat at the release of a book on the Left stand on the deal in Delhi. (PTI)

New Delhi, July 10: The Left today accused the Centre of committing a “shocking betrayal” by getting the draft safeguards agreement circulated among IAEA board members before a trust vote in Parliament.

It added that the government had made Pranab Mukherjee’s position “untenable” since, it said, the foreign minister had given the assurance that the Centre would seek a confidence vote before going to the IAEA.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat also accused the government and the Congress of “lying” about the safeguards text being “classified”. The Centre made the text public this morning after the IAEA revealed its contents.

“We know how to fight against the deal and we will make it politically impossible for the government to go ahead with the agreement. It is not just a matter of a (trust) vote in Parliament,” Karat told reporters.

The CPM general secretary, speaking in the presence of his CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP counterparts, said Delhi’s move was “nothing but a shocking betrayal of moral commitment, not only to the Left parties but to the country and (its) people”.

He added: “There is no reason to doubt the integrity of Mukherjee who said that he had consulted the Prime Minister (before giving his assurance).”

Karat demanded that the Prime Minister tell the nation “what transpired in the meeting he had with US President George W. Bush (in Japan) which led to the going back on a public pledge”.

CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, who said Mukherjee’s position had become untenable, added: “Twice he had said something and twice the government did something else. He wrote a letter (about the UPA-Left panel holding another meeting) but before anything could be done, the Prime Minister went on air saying the government would move the IAEA.”

Karat said the Left parties would study the draft of the safeguards agreement and come out with an analysis.

“We have been demanding the text be made public. All talks of the text being classified and privileged are manufactured by the government but the IAEA has no such problems in making it available for the public,” he said.

Karat scoffed at the Congress spokespersons who had claimed that making the text public would lead to “nuclear terrorism”. “Today the text is available on the site of the MEA (ministry of external affairs),” he said. “Don’t treat the public in such a manner. We also have intelligence.”

Karat claimed that three versions had come out on the subject — from Mukherjee, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar and the Congress spokespersons.

“We have great respect for Kakodkar. He has gone on record saying negotiations on the draft were in progress (with the IAEA). But while he was saying this, the government asked the IAEA to submit it for consideration by the board of governors,” Karat said. “At least, put (out) one version of lies and not different lies.”

Karat said that while the government and the Congress were arguing that the draft was classified, “we got this text from various American websites. This is the plight of the country.”