New Delhi, Sept 19 : The Left parties on Wednesday alleged that the United States was pressurising India to go ahead with the bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation deal.

“I feel it is they (the US), who are laying down the timetable for the government, it seems to us. They are pressurising; you know it very well," said CPI leader A B Bardhan.

The Left parties also rejected the government’s response to the concerns expressed by them over the nuclear deal, saying they were not convinced with the Centre’s contention on the issue.

We are not convinced with even a single contention of the government," Bardhan told reporters after an over 90-minute meeting of the Left leaders.

“It is a lawyers' contention,” he added.

We have rebuffed, refuted whatever the government has said," Bardhan said.

The government had earlier submitted its reply to a five-page note of the Left’s objections on the deal.

Bardhan said they have prepared their reply and would hold a discussion on its basis at the meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal scheduled today.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) General Secretary Prakash Karat asked the Centre on Tuesday not to operationalise the deal for at least six months.

Karat said the country would face a political crisis if the government did not hold the deal back for at least six months.

"We only want them to stop for six months. In next six months, discussion can be held in this matter during the next session of the Parliament,” he said.

“Otherwise, the country will face political crisis, which we don't want," he warned.

While New Delhi is yet to respond to that demand, US officials have reaffirmed that time was running out on the deal, as Washington would be preoccupied with presidential elections next year.

Meanwhile, Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar is in Vienna for an annual IAEA meeting.

The UPA-Left committee set up to resolve the differences over the nuclear deal held its first meeting on September 11, with the members outlining the agenda for the discussion. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that broad issues for the ongoing discussions were framed in the meeting.

The committee framed the issue following broad issues for discussion, implications of the Hyde Act on Indo-nuclear 123 Agreement and on the self-reliance in the nuclear sector, implications on foreign policy and security cooperation.

The 15-member panel, which is headed by Mukherjee, comprises of Union Cabinet Ministers, A K Antony, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Saifuddin Soz, Prithviraj Chavan, Lalu Prasad, T R Baalu and Sharad Pawar; and six Left leaders Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, A B Bardhan, D Raja, Debabrata Biswas and T J Chandrachoodan.

The panel was named after Left, which provides crucial support to the UPA Government, rejected the bilateral nuclear deal with the US, and warned the Government of serious consequences if it went ahead with operationalising the Agreement.

The Government had said that the agreement will be operationalised after taking into account the committee's findings. (With inputs from ANI)