Government has not 'given up' on the Indo-US nuclear deal and dismissed any link between recent electoral defeats of Congress and progress with Left on the issue.
NEW DELHI: Government has not 'given up' on the Indo-US nuclear deal and dismissed any link between recent electoral defeats of Congress and progress with Left on the issue.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also discounted the possibility of mid-term polls to Lok Sabha in the wake of differences with the supporting Left parties on the deal.
During an interaction with PTI Editors here, Mukherjee, the key Government negotiator with the Left on the deal, agreed that 'time is running out' for completing the processes in executing it. "But, one cannot help it".
"No, I have not given up. We are working on how we can proceed," he said. He was replying to a question whether Government has not given up on the deal because of the stiff opposition from the Left parties.
He dismissed suggestions that the deal would now be on the backburner as the Left may step up pressure in the wake of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh poll outcome, saying "their position is not linked with electoral successes and reverses."
Making light of a question on the possibility of snap polls, he said "so long as you go on talking about mid-term poll... ultimately we will reach the day when polls will be held in time."
Mukherjee sidestepped repeated queries on a specific timeframe for operationalising the deal, but hoped that negotiations with the IAEA on a safeguards treaty should be completed by this month end.
Agreeing that time was running out for concluding the deal, the senior Congress leader said if the Government loses majority the international community will not come forward to have an agreement with a minority government.
"Of course time is running out. But one cannot help it. Either you lose majority and if a government loses majority nobody is going to have an arrangement with a minority government," he said.
On the other hand if similar agreements were to be entered into with other countries like France and Russia, the same process of agreements with IAEA and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group was needed.
The minister said the Left leaders have no objection to the IAEA as they appreciate and know it well that India was one of the founder members of the global nuclear watchdog and had been a member of its board for several times.
"The Left leaders have also made it clear that they have no quarrel with IAEA," he said.
He said the Left has 'problem with the US' and had been opposing the civil nuclear cooperation agreement as soon as the amended act was passed by the US Congress last December which was an enabling legislation to the 123 agreement.
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