Senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury on Thursday met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a day after the UPA-Left Committee virtually concluded discussions on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Their parleys, which staved off a breakdown between the Left and the ruling coalition for the time being, followed a series of meetings between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images], United Progressive Alliance chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi [Images] and top leaders of the party till late Thursday night.

The meeting of the UPA-Left panel took place amidst deepening of the stand-off between the two sides with the prime minister keen on pushing forward the deal and the Left parties strongly objecting to it.

Their understanding of operationlisation of the deal differed from the government's concept when the deal becomes effective.

Prime Minister  Manmohan Singh wants all the formalities to be completed before leaving for Japan [Images]  he would  send Pranab Mukherjee rather than face embarassement of meeting US president George Bush [Images].  The Congress and its allies were delighted at the outcome of the coordination committee between the government side and the left parties.

While Mukherjee tried to soften down stand of the left parties, Prakash Karat, Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary, and other left parties told the government that there was no change in their stand . If the government went ahead with IAEA clearance the left would withdraw support to the government.

Lalu, Yadav, played it safe as on one hand he criticised the government for not controlling the price rise and on the other told the Left that the nuclear deal was beneficial for India.

The Congress will hold a meeting of its core group meeting later in the evening on Friday to tell the senior Congress leaders about the details of the talks with the Left parties and take stock of the political developments in case the government decides to go in for early polls and how to approach political parties like Samajwadi Party to save the government.

Some of the Congressmen have expressed their resentment that government did not take the Congress Working Committe into confidence.

" This is own personal view and the party has nothing to do with it," Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natrajan said.

Round one has gone to  Manmohan Singh. While some feel that Singh is for the deal as he feels that 40 years from now an indebted nation would remember him for his contribution to much needed energy security for the country.

There is another group of energy experts who feel that the Congress and the Left parties are involved in shadow boxing and taking the US President for a ride as his term expires in the third week of January 2009 as there is probability that the new administration may have another look at the nuclear deal before signing it.

Additional Reportage: PTI