N-Deal CPM asks UPA partners to stop Govt; Mulayam tells party to get ready for polls, Advani says will press for trust vote on deal NEW DELHI, JUNE 29: Battle lines were formally drawn today over the Indo-US nuclear deal standoff with CPM general secretary Prakash Karat announcing that the Left would withdraw support to the Government if it went ahead with the deal. Karat reminded the Congress that the era of single-party governments was long gone and told poll-wary UPA constituents clearly that they must stop the Government from proceeding further as such a step and its "political consequences' would only help the Opposition BJP. And BJP leader L K Advani, addressing a rally in Rourkela, said: "We will ask the Government to face a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha on the nuclear issue... we cannot sacrifice our atomic energy and future tests in Pokharan by signing the agreement with the US.' The UPA, he said, was wasting time in fighting the Left over the nuclear deal instead of concentrating on development and other burning problems. The CPM politburo, which met in New Delhi today, backed Karat fully by stating that the current impasse was the result of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leadership's "insistence' on going ahead with the deal. "It is unfortunate that at a time when the Government should be gearing to take comprehensive steps to tackle inflation and price rise, the Prime Minister and the Congress leadership are more concerned about fulfilling their commitment made to President Bush to operationalise the nuclear deal,' the politburo said in a statement. "In case the Government decides to go ahead with such a harmful agreement, which has no majority support in Parliament, the CPM will withdraw support to the UPA government in concert with the Left parties,' said Karat, reading out the blunt politburo warning. With the CPM deciding to part ways in case the Government approaches the IAEA for sealing the India-specific safeguards agreement, pressure mounted on the Congress to take a political call on the fate of the deal. Though the Samajwadi Party's stance is still not clear