India's communists have fired a fresh salvo at the government over a controversial nuclear deal with the United States, asking it to stop talks with a UN nuclear watchdog to clinch the pact or prepare for elections.
The new threat by the chief of the largest communist party, which shores up Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition, is one of the most explicit in recent months and marked yet another turnaround in the stance of the left parties.
"When they return after the talks, we will tell them that there is no need to proceed further," Prakash Karat, general-secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), told a party meeting, referring to negotiations between Indian experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).