'Honeymoon over, we're ready to seek divorce (with UPA)'

New Delhi: As tension between the Left and UPA simmered on the Indo-US nuclear deal issue, the CPI on Thursday night said the 'honeymoon is over' and issued a terse warning to the ruling coalition, saying it would not hesitate to 'file divorce papers' if it comes to that.

The two points of view (that of the government and the Left) on the Indo-US deal were 'irreconcilable', CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan told an English news channel, adding that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had made a statement on the issue in Parliament, because there was difference in opinion.

"Now, the difference is that the honeymoon period is over... It is only a question of filing divorce papers if it comes to that end. The Prime Minister knows it and he is the one person who knows it," Bardhan said.

He said the Left has the right to pull down the government any time if they feel that the coalition was not serving its purpose.

"...Some people think that he (Singh) should not have made (that statement). But I think he made it deliberately and he understood it fully well," Bardhan said.

While CPI upped the ante, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury, however, hinted at a climbdown on the issue, saying the withdrawal of its support to the UPA Government 'wasn't the focus right now'.

Speaking to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate on CNN-IBN, Yechury said the Left would go on with its demands on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, but that doesn't mean withdrawing support to the UPA.

Meanwhile, back channel efforts continued to resolve the crisis between the outside supporters and Congress, with the CPI(M) and CPI holding crucial meetings on Friday to finalise their stand on the matter.

The Left parties walked out when External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was making a statement in Lok Sabha on the issue on Thursday. The CPI questioned the government's statements, saying there were apprehensions that 'something' beyond the 123 Agreement was being 'concealed'.

Condemning the US statement that the 123 Agreement could be scrapped if India carried out a nuclear test, the Left parties reiterated their position that the government should not operationalise the deal and proceed with the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group on the matter.

(With agencies inputs)