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Government begins selling nuclear deal

Special Correspondent

CCPA to examine details on July 25

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) is scheduled to meet on July 25 to examine the details of the nuclear agreement reached between Indian and American negotiators last week in Washington.

The leader of the Indian delegation, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, returns to the capital late Monday night and will be available to brief the CCPA on what has been accomplished in Washington.

Besides the five designated members of the Cabinet Committee on Security — the Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister, Home Minister, Finance Minister and Defence Minister — the CCPA includes four major political faces of the coalition Government — Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Road Transport Minister T.R. Baalu.

A CCPA endorsement is deemed the first step towards grafting as large as possible political and parliamentary support.

On Monday morning, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began the process of crafting a political consensus on the agreement. According to sources in the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr. Singh briefed Congress president and United Progressive Alliance chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, on the deal.

Dr. Singh also communicated the broad outlines of the “breakthrough” to Brajesh Mishra, former National Security Adviser, who continues to advise the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on security matters. Mr. Mishra’s views are respected and valued by the Manmohan Singh establishment.

The Prime Minister also briefed Sitaram Yechury, a senior CPI(M) leader. The Left parties have been most sceptical of the proposed nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Secretary, Shivshankar Menon, began an intensive exercise to brief and explain informally the nuances of the Washington agreement to senior journalists.

According to PMO sources, the Prime Minister proposes to make a suo motu statement in both Houses of Parliament in the monsoon session. According to these sources, the Government is prepared to have a debate on the deal in Parliamen t as it feels the Washington agreement has addressed most of the concerns voiced by the critics.

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