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Coimbatore: Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat yesterday said the Left Front's stand on the nuclear deal remains unchanged.
He said the Left's stand was not to allow the deal to go any further.
The Left Front has been adamant on its stand on the nuclear deal.
The two main parties of the Left Front - the CPI and the CPM - have opposed the signing of the deal in its present form.
Speculation
It is being speculated that the meeting concerning the controversial deal between the government and its Left partners next month might be decisive considering the conclusion of the national meetings of the CPI and the CPM.
Besides the nuclear deal, Karat also spoke about issues ranging from India-China relations to defeating the communal forces.
Inaugurating the six-day 19th Party Congress here, Karat said there is the necessity of a third alternative for the nation.
He opined that the Third Front should be built from a platform of alternative policies.
Observers
Around 800 delegates, including 70 observers and fraternal delegations from 24 countries are expected to attend the event.
This is the first time when veteran leaders Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet are not taking part in the Congress as they are not keeping well.
Armed forces report sought
Defence Minister A.K. Antony has said the government has asked the Armed Forces for a report on the shortage of personnel.
Antony said that he had asked the Armed Forces to "carefully study the scenario and come out with a report on the possible ways to make a career in the armed forces more attractive for the younger generation".
Antony was inaugurating the Defence Pension Training Institute here. Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju accompanied him.
In his inaugural address at the ceremony, he asserted that the government is committed to ensuring "a life of dignity for the people who have retired from the armed forces".
"An important step in this direction would be to develop a grievance-free pension sanction and disbursal system, and the new institute has been set up to overcome the skill deficit that has been coming in the way of achieving the end," Antony said.
He also said the Government has declared 2008 as "the year of ex-servicemen", to ensure that all possible measures would be adopted "to make things easier for the nearly 2.2 million defence pensioners in the country".
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