NEW DELHI: The Government is continuing to talk to political parties to arrive at a consensus on how best to express the "sense of the House" on the India-United States civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said here on Wednesday.

"Most likely" the Prime Minister's statement in Parliament would be made "next week, not this week." The Government was keen on "showing the world" that on this issue the nation was united and that the United Progressive Alliance was not divided.

Mr. Dasmunsi did not use the word "resolution" in the context of conveying the "sense of the House." Even the Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat on Sunday said his party never talked about the need for a parliamentary resolution.

It seems the discussions with parties are centred on the areas of concern that should be addressed in the statement by the Prime Minister or through interventions or clarifications in any debate that may follow.

A "larger debate," possibly for as long as six hours, was on the cards on the issue of minimum support price for agri-products and related farmers' problems, Mr. Dasmunsi said.

Common denominator

CPI (M) MP Sitaram Yechury said the Left parties were working for a unanimous resolution with both the Government and the Opposition on the nuclear deal, the common denominator being that India would not go beyond what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh already stated in the House.

"If we succeed as we did in the case of the resolution on Israel [regarding attacks on Lebanon] or [not sending troops to] Iraq, it would be the sense of the House. Failing which, we want some sort of statement by the presiding officer or Prime Minister, but on a draft agreed to by all that can serve as a sense of the House," Mr. Yechury told a news conference.

He reiterated that the CPI-M already highlighted nine points of departure from what Dr. Singh had said and the manner in which the agreement was progressing in the U.S. Congress and Senate.

Countering the argument that the final stage had not yet been reached, Mr. Yechury said that irrespective of what the U.S. lawmakers did, India should reiterate its position.

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