From correspondents in West Bengal, India, 04:31 PM IST

Amid the stand-off between the Left parties and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) over the India-US nuclear deal, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Saturday met party patriarch Jyoti Basu here to discuss the political situation.

Karat, who flew into the city Saturday morning, held a 40-minute discussion with Basu and briefed him on the developments.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and state party secretary Biman Bose were present during parleys at Basu's residence in the satellite township of Salt Lake.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)