Congress responsible if government falls: Forward Bloc

The Congress will be responsible if the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre collapses due to the standoff with the Left parties over the Indo-US nuclear deal, the All India Forward Bloc said on Saturday.

"We want Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to surrender to US President George Bush over the Indo-US nuclear deal. We want the government to not operationalise the 123 agreement," veteran Forward Bloc leader Ashok Ghosh told PTI in Kolkata.

"The Congress will be held responsible if the government falls," he said.

Referring to the CPI-M's terse warning to the UPA government over the nuclear issue, Ghosh said, "All Left parties will take a common stand (on the issue)."

The Forward Bloc is part of West Bengal's ruling Left Front coalition.