New Delhi Apr 23: The CPI(M) today denied that the Left parties had read the International Atomic Energy Agency's draft text on the Indo-US nuclear deal, asserting that their opposition to the pact continued and the UPA-Left Panel on the deal would meet here on May six. "We have not read the text...We will discuss the government's response to the same at the forthcoming meeting of the UPA-Left Panel," CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury told a news conference here. Mr Yechury said the text could not really be shown to them. A section of the media had reported that the government had shown the text, which is believed to be "generous" to India, to the Left parties.

He said the CPI(M) wanted more clarifications from the government at the forthcoming meeting even as the Left parties are understood to have already apprised the government of their reservations on the subject through a note. The CPI(M) leader emphasised that the government had made a solemn commitment to take into consideration the findings of the Panel. "Let us see what happens on May six," he added.

UNI