The India-US civil nuclear deal is in a 'state of pause', and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to convey this to US President George W. Bush soon.
NEW DELHI: The India-US civil nuclear deal is in a 'state of pause', and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to convey this to US President George W. Bush soon, a senior minister said Monday.
"The nuclear deal is not off, but is on a state of pause. It is in suspended animation, like the Karnataka assembly," the minister said here, not wanting to be quoted on this sensitive issue without proper authorization.
The comments came two days after both Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi ruled out early elections in remarks seen to mean that they would not sacrifice the government for the deal.
The minister said the prime minister might speak to Bush soon about the fate of the nuclear deal in the wake of the Left's uncompromising opposition. Other allies of the government have also come out against the deal but less vocally.
"A chemistry (between Manmohan Singh and Bush) has grown so much... He (PM) has put his goodwill and capital into (the deal). He has to say something to Bush," the minister said.
The minister added that the prime minister was likely to inform the US president that he was trying to resolve the differences within his coalition over the nuclear deal.
"It will be a sad one," said the minister, referring to Manmohan Singh's planned telephonic talk with Bush. "He (PM) still believes that the deal is very good for the country."
The minister said the Oct 22 meeting of the UPA-Left nuclear committee, formed to address the concerns raised by the communists over the agreement, would be "crucial".
"We may officially inform their leaders that we are going slow on the deal and we might decide to meet again or we will dissolve the committee and agree to disagree," the minister said.
Talking to reporters, Shakeel Ahmed, the newly appointed spokesperson of the Congress, maintained that the government had not made a U-turn on the nuclear deal as certain opposition leaders were alleging.
"There is no question of U-turn. We are in discussion with the allies, who have reservations. I do not think either the prime minister or the Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) said the deal was off.
"Our allies have the right to express their concerns and it is our duty to allay their fears," Ahmed said.
He was referring to DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's remarks that he was never comfortable with the nuclear deal and that the Congress should not sacrifice the central government for its sake.
Two other major Congress allies - the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Nationalist Congress Party - have also reportedly said that the nuclear deal should never be a cause for fresh elections.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left bloc, which has opposed the deal saying it would make India a junior strategic partner to the US, had warned of "serious consequences" if the government went ahead with the deal.
Congress sources said many in the government as well as in the party feel that the winter session of parliament should be convened earlier to hold a discussion on the nuclear deal.
"The winter session (which usually convenes in mid-November) should be called early, much ahead of the Gujarat elections (in December), and discuss the nuclear issue," said a senior party leader.
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