INDIAN ELECTION NEWS: The doors have been left open to rapprochement by the Congress. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today that alliance with the Left is possible after the elections. To this the Left replied by saying that they were ready but only if the India-US nuclear deal was withdrawn.

At an interaction with members of the Editors’ Guild, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “An alliance with Left parties is possible only after the elections. Circumstances will decide if we go with the Left.”

Manmohan Singh also mentioned that he regretted parting ties with the Left over the nuke deal. Left was not a part of the UPA but they were providing crucial parliamentary support to the UPA government till July 2008.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) reacted to this comment of the prime minister, politburo member M K Pandhe said: “They (the Congress) will have to withdraw nuclear deal first. (Only then) we can discuss about a post-poll understanding.”