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PM to Bush: Difficulties in
implementing n-deal
Sunil Dang onboard with PM's
special aircraft
 Abuja:
With the UPA government putting on hold the India-US civil nuclear deal,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday night explained to US President
George Bush that "certain difficulties" have arisen in operationalising
the deal that is being fiercely opposed by the Left parties in India.
The prime minister's candid admission to Bush about "difficulties" faced
by his government is a clear indication that the deal is headed for cold
storage, at least in near future, as his government appears to have made
a political choice to delay the implementation of the deal that could
have risked the survival of his government. The telephonic conversation
between Manmohan Singh and Bush takes place two days after the prime
minister and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi
ruled out early elections and hinted that that they would not risk the
government, which has still to complete one and a half years of its
tenure, for the deal. "There is no hurry to push the deal through. We
will go by our timeline," an official source told Day After
If the next steps in implementing the nuclear deal – India's safeguards
agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the
rule change by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group – are not completed
by the end of this year, there is every probability that the 123
bilateral agreement may not be presented to the US Congress before
election fever swamps Washington. This effectively seals the future of
the deal, at least during the tenure of the Bush administration that has
made the India nuclear deal the centrepiece of its transformed relations
with India. The two leaders also discussed the importance of the Doha
round and Dr. Manmohan Singh enunciated that as any trade deal involved
give and take, India was "ready to do its share of giving in this
regard" and advocated "a reasonable compromise between differing
positions of various countries."
Saying that nearly two-third of India's population was dependent on
agriculture, Manmohan Singh also stressed on the centrality of
agriculture to the successful conclusion of the Doha round and asked
that the US, being the leading economy of the world, can ensure a
successful development for this round. "India can by and large live with
what is on the table and has concerns only on agriculture. We will try
to help in reaching a compromise," he said.
Bush is most likely going to speak on the Doha round of multilateral
trade talks which has entered a critical stage and seek India's support
for the early and successful conclusion of the trade talks, an official
source, requesting anonymity, told Day After
Indian officials may be tight-lipped about whether the India-US civil
nuclear deal will be discussed, but with the government indicating that
it was not in a hurry to implement this landmark deal it will surely
figure in the talks between Manmohan Singh and Bush.
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