Mumbai: Senior scientists, including former chiefs of the Atomic Energy Commission, have strongly opposed the government's move to seek IAEA board approval for the Indo-US nuclear deal before debating it within the UPA-Left committee.

P K Iyengar, former chairman of the Atomic Enegry Commission, A Gopalakrishnan, former head of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and A N Prasad, former director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, said in a joint statement that the agreement should also be discussed with a group of experts who were not party to the IAEA negotiations.

''We are strongly of the opinion that the government should not proceed to seek IAEA board approval for the current draft safeguards agreement, until its implications are debated more fully within the country, or at least within the UPA-Left Committee," they said.

The governments move to sign a safeguards agreement with the IAEA board in a haste "without giving its details to the UPA-Left committee created specifically for a joint evaluation of the deal" has caused a ''great deal of disquiet'' among the scientific community, they said.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) today asked the United Progressive Alliance government to refrain from the nuclear deal, saying the move will prompt immediate general elections.

"Instead of giving the text of the pact and relevant information to the UPA-Left committee, the government seems to be in a hurry to move ahead with the agreement," said CPI general secretary A B Bardhan.

He said the government had clarified that it would give the text to the committee and proceed on the basis of its findings and conclusions.

Bardhan accused the UPA government of violating its common minimum programme and asked UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to take into account the feelings of alliance partners and stop the government from going ahead with the deal.

Bardhan said the Left parties will never compromise on their stand to oppose military and strategic partnership with the United States.