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Left-UPA meet on N-agreement put off |
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In what could further dampen the spirit of nuclear deal enthusiasts, the Government has put off the meeting of the Left-UPA panel on the Indo-US nuclear agreement to June 18. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, convenor of the panel, said the meeting was put off due to the unavailability of some members of the committee.
The deferment of the meeting, earlier scheduled for June 4, came in the wake of Left parties planning to ask the Government to allow the nuclear deal to lapse before finalizing an India-specific safeguards agreement with the global nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency.
There are indicators that in view of Congress Party defeats in Assembly elections and other problems like those of price rise and inflation, the Government is planning to go ahead with the 123 Agreement and dare the Left to withdraw its support. The UPA Government may go ahead with the agreement and call an early Lok Sabha poll if the Left withdraws its support. It would thus be facing the electorate with a big advantage of inking the deal for the good of the country even at the cost of losing power at the Centre. Many top Congress leaders are of the view that since abandoning the deal is no guarantee for the Left’s support till the end of the Government’s tenure, it should think of going ahead with the deal that could be showcased as a UPA achievement in securing energy security for the country and providing power to farmers. “The worst case scenario would be that we abandon the deal and then the Left withdraws support at some point of time. By going ahead with the deal, we will have at least something to talk about”, said a senior Congress leader.
The hopes about the Government going ahead with the nuclear deal were revived when the media came out with reports about the Prime Minister planning a meeting of senior officials involved with the agreement. Indian Ambassador to the US, Ronen Sen, who was here recently was also learnt to have conveyed to the Government the urgency to take a final decision on the deal. “A meeting may be convened to take a look at the available time-limit for the deal so that if the Government, at some stage, has to bite the bullet, it should have a plan ready”, said a ruling party source.
Meanwhile, the first consignment of enriched uranium fuel for the Kundankulam Nuclear Power Project arrived from Russia on May 25.
The Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation deal has remained frozen for months, even as the government continues to engage unsuccessfully with its make-or-break Left allies to secure their permission to go ahead with it. It has been a few months now that the Government has finalised the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA, but it is still awaiting the Left’s nod to clinch it with the UN atomic watchdog. The matter was discussed at the UPA-Left nuclear panel at its last meeting but to no avail. The Left leaders wanted to see the text of the draft which the Government refused to deliver for security reasons. The May 28 which has now been put off was crucial because the IAEA Board of Governors is due to meet in Vienna on June 2-6. Now, the next meeting of the panel is slated for June 18, well after the IAEA conclave whose approval to the draft safeguards agreement is necessary for its completion which, in turn, is a pre-requisite for moving towards operationalising the deal.
After clinching the IAEA pact, the Government needs to move the NSG for its waiver to get international sanctions against India by global nuclear commerce removed. Only after that, the US Congress is to take up the 123 deal for final ratification to enable the two countries to conclude the deal. The American timeline is however getting increasingly tight in this year’s Presidential election with the deadline for the required ratification being set to August-September.
Even as questions are being asked whether the next Government in Washington would support the Bush-Manmohan Singh scripted nuclear deal, the Republican nominee, John McCain has come out with its support. Strongly backing it, he said it would strengthen US ties with the world’s largest democracy and further involve New Delhi in its non-proliferation efforts. “I support the US-India civil nuclear accord as a means of strengthening our relations” with India, McCain said in a major foreign policy speech at the University of Denver, Colorado.
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