Friday, October 7 2005 19:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Stating that it was not was broadly 'satisfied' with the economic policies of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government, the Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M) today (Oct 7, 2005) said the Left parties will meet soon to take a decision regarding resuming participation in the UPA Coordination Committee.

CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat told reporters here that he had received letter from UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi regarding Government's decision to put on hold ten per cent of its equity in navratna Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL).

"The matter is settled as far as we are concerned but we had not suspended our participation from the UPA coordination committee on this issue alone but on the issue of Navratana as a whole," he said.

Karat termed as 'wrong' the decision taken by India to vote against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting last month.

"Iran is a signatory to Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), they also have the right to develop nuclear energy. Moreover, our country acutely needs energy, be it nuclear or LNG," Karat said.

The US did not want a network like the LNG pipeline (Iran-Pakistan-India) with a capacity of five million metric tonnes per year, Karat said.

The Indian government should change its stance, he said adding, "They (UPA) are only justifying the stand taken during the voting against Iran at IAEA."

"We are forming a Committee on October 10 for a campaign on independent foreign policy," he said.

A convention would be held in Delhi this month end on the issue of foreign policy, he added.