Basu favoured nuke power, not N-deal: Karat

New Delhi: A day after CPM veteran Jyoti Basu broke Left ranks and spoke in favour of nuclear power, the top brass of the party tried to downplay his remark, saying favouring nuclear power did not mean Basu was supporting the Indo-US nuclear deal.

“It does not mean that those supporting nuclear energy also support the nuclear deal,” CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat told a convention on the nuke deal at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Echoing West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Basu had said on Friday that nuclear power was needed in India and that even he had tried to get a nuclear plant in West Bengal during his tenure as the CM of the state.

Basu said that the nuclear deal was for energy and “nuclear energy is necessary and there is a need for nuclear power plants. With new industries mushrooming, the demand for power will increase.”

The Left has been opposing the very idea of producing nuclear power in India, saying that the cost of producing nuclear power is too costly as compared to hydro or coal-based power entities.

“It would cost Rs 3,30,000 crore to produce 30,000 MW of nuclear power. The same capacity can be added using hydro- and coal resources in the region for Rs 90,000 crore - Rs 1,20,000 crore,” top CPM leaders maintain. "At this cost, is it worth it? Why do you need nuclear energy when other options are available?," they ask.

On Saturday Karat, however, said his party had clinched the issue by favouring nuclear power as one of the ingredients of energy security. He said there was a section in the country, as also in the party, which had a ‘different opinion’ on nuclear power.

“We held discussions within our party and we have decided that we are for nuclear power,” he said, adding that the deal with the US “will undermine India's nuclear indigenous programme.”

Referring to the implications of the Hyde Act, Karat said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had clarified the Left parties' nine-point objections to the deal in Parliament in August last year.

“But in December 2006, the Hyde Act was passed. The Prime Minister's statement became irrelevant. The Hyde Act nullifies the assurances of the Prime Minister given in Parliament,” he said.