Washington (PTI): The Indo-US nuclear deal has moved into the last lap clearing a major hurdle when the House of Representatives approved a legislation on it that will now go to the Senate which is likely to vote on it on Monday.

Once the Senate clears the bill, the agreement reached between the two countries three years ago will be ready to be inked by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Rice's visit to New Delhi on October3 may be rescheduled, a high-ranking Indian official accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. The External Affairs Minister who is in New York is scheduled to return to the Indian capital on October three.

The Prime Minister voiced happiness that the nuclear deal has crossed another hurdle following its approval by the House.

"I am happy that one hurdle has been crossed but I think that is not the end of the legislative process. So, we will wait for the final outcome," he told reporters on way to France at the end of his five-day visit to the US.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said the landmark agreement could be brought to a vote in his Chamber, possibly as early as on Monday, and urged his colleagues to drop their objections to the deal.

After a lot of drama and suspense, the House of Representatives passed the Bill on an unusual extra day of sitting on Saturday with bipartisan support but a considerable number of Democrats were still opposed to it.

The Berman Bill H R 7081, named after Howard Berman, a Democrat, was adopted with 298 voting for and 117 against it.

Berman, a known critic of the deal, finally veered around presenting a bill identical to the one passed by a Senate panel. He agreed to drop references to Iran as also certain other additions which could have sabotaged early passage of the bill in the House. One lawmaker merely voted present.

Despite the bipartisan support the bill received, 107 Democrats voted against the legislation while 120 of their party colleagues voted for it. In the Republican party, only 10 voted against it while 178 voted in its favour.

The deal just needs the backing of the Senate which may vote on the issue on Monday. But the Senate vote appears to be a formality given the fact that an identical Bill has already been approved by its Foreign Relations Committee earlier this week.

"... what are we going to do on Monday? We may have to have a vote on the defence authorisation bill.... we've got to do the defence authorisation bill, we have to do Amtrak. we have to do the nuclear treaty with India," Reid said on the Senate floor yesterday while urging his colleagues to drop their objections to the deal.

The Senate Majority Leader's remarks came against the backdrop of information that it is not a lone Senator who has placed a "hold" on the movement of the Bill of Approval of the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement in the Senate. Sources have told PTI that the number of Senators who have placed a "hold" could be as high as five.

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