Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi on Thursday alleged that the CPI(M) was against the Indo-US nuclear deal because it did not want India to have an edge over China.

"(The CPI-M) does not want India to go for the nuclear deal. But they do not have any objection to China going for the deal. Can they not be called agents?" Dasmunsi said at the 55th anniversary celebration of Chhatra Parishad, the student wing of Congress.

Recalling that the CPI(M) had opposed the move by the Rajiv Gandhi government to introduce computers in the country, Dasmunshi said the CPI(M)-led government in West Bengal was now wooing IT companies in the state.

"The CPI(M) has opposed India signing the GATT treaty and inclusion in the WTO. Now, even China has entered WTO and wants most favoured nation status from the US," he said, adding that since inclusion in the WTO, India's exports had increased by 12 times and was the second largest in the world after Japan.

Asserting that the nuke deal was absolutely necessary to meet India's energy requirement by 2012, he said the deal had been struck with the US after some scouting as it was found to have the required technology.

"Does the deal mean that we cannot make nuclear bombs? The answer is, we can. No one can influence our military strategy. The only condition is that we cannot send our reactors to any other country," he said.