Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted that the Left's withdrawal of support would not affect his government's stability.
Speaking in Japan on the sidelines of the G8 summit, Manmohan Singh told reporters that ''Left pulling out will not affect the stability of the government.'' He was reacting to the Left parties announcing earlier in the day that they were withdrawing their legislative support to the Congress-led UPA government.
The Left withdrew support to the government, citing as immediate provocation the Prime Minister's statement in Tokyo that he would be going to the International Atomic Energy Agency soon. It has sought an appointment with President Pratibha Patil to formally withdraw support, and is expected to meet her.
Addressing a press conference in the Capital, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said the PM's statement made ''waiting for July 10 meaningless''. The Left had earlier set July 10 as a deadline.
Karat said, ''We have sent a letter to Pranab Mukherjee...In view of the PM's statement, we are withdrawing support.''
The Prime Minister had said in response to a question that his government would go to the IAEA soon. The Left felt he could have been less direct to the media before giving his allies an answer to the same question.
The Left parties were angry that Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee gave only an ''evasive reply'' to their July 7 deadline for letting them know when the government planned to go to the IAEA. Mukherjee had reacted to the ultimatum by inviting the Left for yet another round of talks.
Immediately after the Left withdrew support, Congress sources told NDTV that they had the support of Ajit Singh and HD Deve Gowda. Also that the Samajwadi Party now had to ''manage numbers.''
But Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh, who has three MPs, said later that he would first hold talks within the party before committing on anything. ''We have no alliances with any other party'', he said.
But Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh assured the Congress they would support the government on the nuclear deal. ''Every Samajwadi Party vote in Parliament will be cast in support of the Indo-US nuclear deal and to save the UPA government,'' said Amar Singh.
The BJP, meanwhile, has demanded that the government prove its majority in Parliament soon, terming the Left-UPA alliance as an ''unholy tie-up forged only to keep the BJP out'' and one bound to break soon.
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