She (Gandhi) has said nothing wrong. She said there are issues (relating to the deal) on which discussions are going on. We have to respect different views," party general secretary Prakash Karat said.

Speaking at a gathering of Indian-Americans in New York on Monday, Gandhi had sought to play down Left's concerns on the deal, saying they were not a cause for ‘alarm’.

Karat admitted that ‘differences’ existed between the UPA government and the Left parties, providing crucial outside support to the ruling coalition, over the deal, and said, "we are trying to reach a consensus."

Asked when is the UPA-Left combine expected to reach a consensus on the deal, Karat said, "the (UPA-Left) committee would be meeting on October 5 when the date for next meeting will also be decided. We are trying to arrive at a consensus (on the deal) in the next two meetings."

He was in Bhopal to attend a condolence meet organised in the memory of Madhya Pradesh CPM secretary B S Dhakad.

On his party's stand on the nuclear agreement, CPM leader pointed out ‘the party had made it clear during its recent Central Committee meeting that the government should not take the next step on the deal. Any move should be made only after discussions in Parliament’.

To a specific query, the senior Communist leader said, "It (Left's stand on the deal) is not pressure politics. It (the deal) is an important question before the nation."