Friday, November 4 2005 10:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: An unscheduled meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security was held here yesterday night (Nov 03, 2005) apparently to discuss the Left parties' decision to lay a siege of Kalaikunda air base in West Bengal where air forces of India and the US would hold joint military exercises next week.

The meeting, held at the official residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was attended by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and army and air force chiefs Gen J J Singh and Air Marshal S P Tyagi.

Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi told reporters after the two-and-half-hour meeting that it was a 'security review' meeting. He did not elaborate.

The IAF and USAF would begin a 12-day exercise at Kalaikunda base from November 7 and West Bengal's ruling Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) has threatened to mobilize 30 lakh activists in state-wide protests against the event.

Earlier in the day, the Left parties, at a joint meeting here, strongly opposed the joint military exercises and welcomed the call given by several parties and organisations for massive demonstration at Kalaikunda air base and other parts of West Bengal on November seven.

"The deepening military collaboration (between India and US) does not augur well for India's strategic interests and independent foreign policy", the CPI(M), Communist Party of India (CPI), Republican Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc said in a joint statement here.

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat also held a meeting with the External Affairs Minister earlier in the day.