Failing to make much headway in its talks on the India-US nuclear deal, the UPA-Left committee on the pact has decided to undertake another round of negotiations on May 28 even as it becomes increasingly clear that time is running out as the tenure of the Bush administration comes to an end. The government indicated to the the Left parties that the nuclear deal was being squeezed for time and foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee told them during the eighth meeting of the committee that problems were only going to grow in the coming days. In Washington, a state department official said they had received no confirmation or information to the effect that the deal was dead, and noted that another meeting of the UPA-Left panel had been scheduled later this month. During Tuesday's meeting, Mukherjee cited the NAM countries who have called for complete prohibition on transfer of nuclear knowhow to those countries which were not signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Apparently trying to delink the 123 pact and the safeguards agreement with IAEA, Mukherjee requested the Left leaders that the government be allowed to get the deal ratified by the atomic watchdog board so that nuclear trade with France and Russia could be clinched. But the Left did not relent. Instead, it raised a few more queries. The next meeting of the UPA-Left committee will take place on May 28. A top Left leader said, "The process of discussions will continue. There will be more meetings after the next date.' The Left parties will meet on May 23 to formalise their view on the government's latest proposal. The first thing the Left wants to know is "when specifically does the 123 agreement become a dead deal'. Also, the Left's queries on the safeguards agreement have not been squarely addressed though the government tried to answer them in detail during the meeting. "We are not convinced by verbal assurances on our questions about the safeguards agreement. We want to see the text of the deal. The government says it is not possible to circulate the text since many countries are involved in it. But we have asked them to paraphrase the text and show us. They have agreed. Let us see,' a senior Left leader said. Another top leader said the government was keen to seek IAEA's approval of the safeguards agreement. "They gave more information in response to our queries and even went into detail. We will give our response by the next meeting. Meanwhile, the government will clear our confusion,' he said. External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury after the Left-UPA meet on Tuesday