Left-wing parties storm out of Indian coalition

NEW DELHI (AFP) - A bloc of Indian left-wing and communist parties announced Tuesday they were pulling out of the country’s coalition government in protest against a nuclear energy deal with the United States.
Their decision, however, was not expected to cause the collapse of the Congress-led government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who last week managed to win support from a regional party to avoid the prospect of early elections.
Marxist leader Prakash Karat told reporters in New Delhi that the “time has come” for India’s leftists to bail out of the coalition in the wake of Singh’s decision to push ahead with implementing the controversial pact.
“We have decided to ask the president for an appointment so that we can formally withdraw support tomorrow,” said Karat.
The Press Trust of India said the parties will ask President Pratibha Patil to order confidence vote in parliament.
But Singh, currently in Japan for a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialised nations, said the government of the world’s second most populous nation was not in danger.
“I don’t think it will affect the stability of our government,” Singh told reporters.
In New Delhi, Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari added the reshaped coalition “will prove that it has the numbers in the parliament.”
Singh’s administration is seen as unlikely to collapse thanks to a deal struck last week with the regional socialist Samajwadi Party.
“We have 39 MPs and we have some others who have pledged to vote with us, for the government,” Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh told reporters.