New Delhi: A senior Union minister today appeared to indicate that elections may be a possibility if the UPA and the Left fail to resolve differences over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said genuine concerns on the deal need to be addressed and the government will consider all the options it has before taking a decision on the future of the deal. "Once we have exhausted all the options we will decide what to do. If not, then we will tell the nation you decide ," he said at a public lecture on the "Indo-US Nuclear Agreement" organised by the Delhi University.

Sibal also praised the Left leaders for taking an ideological stand on the deal but criticised the main opposition BJP for attacking the government on the issue. "The Left has an ideology, BJP doesn t," he quipped. Asked by a student about the Left concerns on the deal, Sibal switched to the university jargon: "The Left parties say that you (government) have become pitthu (blind supporter) of the US, what if they turn off the nuclear fuel supplies in the future as they had done once.

"So the Left parties say that you can have the deal with China or Russia but not with the US." He also dubbed the Left parties as "enemies" but added in the same breath that the reference was made in a lighter vein. To a question on the right to conduct a nuclear test, he said the deal did not ban India from exploding an atomic device but made it clear that it will have to face the consequences for such a move. "Its the same like if you sit for exams and fail, you too have to face the consquences," Sibal said.

Source : PTI