New Delhi: After appearing to go soft on its opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal last week, Samajwadi Party said it would ''firmly oppose'' the agreement in the discussion on the issue in the Rajya Sabha today.

''We will be firmly opposing the deal,'' SP General Secretary Amar Singh said on Monday.

Singh said the United National Progresive Alliance (UNPA)'s stand on the deal was ''very consistent and there is no dilution or ambiguity''.

The SP leader said he endorsed the stand taken by his party's parliamentary group leader Ram Gopal Yadav that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was an honourable person but the deal he is pursuing with the US was not an honourable one.

Asked specifically if SP would be seen as siding with Left parties' stand on the issue, Singh, who is also UNPA's spokesman, said ''they (Left parties) should be seen my position because I'm also opposed to the Left allowing the government to go to the IAEA'' for talks.

CPI(M) today reaffirmed its opposition to the deal alleging its ''larger agenda'' was to convert India into a
''subordinate ally'' of the US and New Delhi's ''shift'' in policy was visible in the Indo-Iranian relations.

''Day-to-day developments reconfirm our fears that the US wants to convert India into its subordinate ally in South Asia, even before the Indo-US nuclear deal has come into effect. This is a very ominous development,'' Politburo member Sitaram Yechury told reporters.

Amar Singh said he would take part in the Rajya Sabha debate.

The SP and its UNPA ally Telugu Desam Party had either indicated to going soft on the deal or stayed away from the debate on the issue in the Lok Sabha last week.

Source : PTI