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After a scathing attack by Left parties, the government briefed the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on Friday night about the circumstances in which India voted in favour of last week's International Atomic Energy Agency resolution on Iran's nuclear programme.
"Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran briefed the CCPA about the circumstances in which the government decided to go with the resolution," Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, after the CCPA meeting.
Asked why the Union cabinet was not consulted before the government decided to support the resolution along with the United States and European Union, he said, "Nobody knew that there will be a voting on it. And when it was known, there was no time for the cabinet meeting."
Mukherjee said National Security Advisor M K Narayanan also briefed the CCPA about the talks he had in China as the special representative of India.
The Left parties have accused the government of succumbing to US pressure by supporting the IAEA resolution that threatened to refer Iran's nuclear programme to United Nations Security Council.
CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat launched a direct attack on Thursday on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, charging him with being directly responsible for supporting the IAEA resolution on the Iran nuclear issue.