The Hindu : Front Page : India will await political consensus on civilian nuclear deal: Pranab

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Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008
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India will await political consensus on civilian nuclear deal: Pranab

“Government trying to work out a meeting ground with the Left parties”

Photo: PTI

CRUCIAL TALKS: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House in Washington on Monday. —

Washington: India on Tuesday said it would not move forward on the civilian nuclear deal with the U.S. until a political consensus was achieved. The government was making efforts to evolve a “meeting ground” with the Left parties, supporting the ruling coalition from outside and opposed to the deal.

“If we are able to evolve a consensus then it will be possible to hasten the process [of taking the deal forward],” visiting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters, as the U.S. nudged India into concluding the agreement with the IAEA and seek NSG waiver by May to give Congress time to have a final vote on the deal.

Mr. Mukherjee, who met President George W. Bush at the White House for 35 minutes and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday, said the UPA government was “interested” in pursuing the deal and it was aware of the time frame suggested by members of the U.S. Congress but certain issues were yet to be resolved.

Conveying to Mr. Mukherjee Washington’s desire to take the deal forward, Ms. Rice had said it was a “landmark agreement which is good for both sides....we will continue to work on that agreement.”

“Let us see. Events have their own momentum,” Mr. Mukherjee said to a question when he expected the political process in India to be hastened.

“The UPA government is trying to work out a meeting ground between it and a section of its supporters [to evolve consensus],” said Mr. Mukherjee.

The External Affairs Minister is on his first bilateral visit to the U.S.

He said: “There is opposition from the Left and the BJP to the nuclear deal and therefore we have to take into account that ... if it is subsequently not honoured by the next government it would lead to an embarrassing situation for the country.”

He said although India had finalised the language of the safeguards text with the IAEA it was difficult to indicate at this juncture a time frame by when the nuke deal could be wrapped up.

“Our government is interested in ratifying the [nuclear] agreement since we are energy-deficient. There is an overall consensus [in India] that nuclear technology is important,” he said. — PTI

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