(AFP) – Dec 9, 2007

NEW DELHI (AFP) — A key Indian communist party has renewed a threat to withdraw crucial support for the national government over a controversial nuclear deal with the United States, a report said.

The Communist Party of India or CPI(M) said negotiations for the deal must be wrapped up by year's end, warning the Congress-led government that it should be prepared for snap polls if they drag into the new year.

"The issue must be resolved by the end of December. If they still go ahead, then we will have to be prepared for mid-term polls," party general secretary Prakash Karat was quoted as saying by Times Now television news Sunday.

The government's five-year term ends in early 2009.

The move is the latest turnaround after left-wing parties including the CPI(M) last month allowed the government to go ahead with crucial talks with the UN nuclear watchdog, a key step needed to implement the deal.

The warning also comes on the eve of the second round of talks between Indian officials and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Monday, the Press Trust of India said.

"When they come back from talks with the IAEA, we will tell them there is no need to go ahead" with the deal, Karat told a party meeting in New Delhi at the weekend, the news channel said.

The communist parties, which normally lends key support to the government, have opposed the accord for months, saying it may threaten India's nuclear weapons programme and allow US intervention in the country's foreign policy.

But in a surprise move last month, the communists gave the green signal for the first round of IAEA talks on condition that no agreement would be signed.

The communists's tough stand had sparked speculation of a mid-term national poll earlier this year, but Karat said the left-wing parties had not wanted the government to collapse ahead of crucial local elections in Gujarat state.

The western Gujarat state goes to polls on December 11 and 16, with its Hindu hardline leader Narendra Modi -- accused of supporting anti-Muslim riots in 2002 -- widely expected to be re-elected.

"We have to defeat the Modi government so we don't want to disturb the situation now," Karat said.

The deal would allow nuclear-armed India to buy civilian nuclear technology to help fuel its fast-growing economy, despite having tested atomic weapons and not being a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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