Washington: India on Tuesday said it will not move forward on the civil nuclear deal with the US till a political consensus is achieved. It also stated that the Government was making efforts to evolve a "meeeting ground" with outside supporters Left parties.
“If we are able to evolve a consensus then it will be possible to hasten the process(of taking the deal forward)," visiting External Affairs Minister Mukherjee told reporters, as the US nudged India into concluding the agreement with the IAEA and seek NSG waiver by May to give the Congress time to have a final vote on the deal. The Left is opposed to the deal.
Mukherjee, who met President George W Bush at the White House for 35 minutes and Secretary of State Condolesa Rice on Monday, said UPA government is "interested" in pursuing the Indo-US civil nuclear deal and that it was aware of the timeframe suggested by members of the US Congress but certain issues were yet to be resolved.
Mukherjee said "there is opposition from the Left and the BJP to the nuclear deal and therefore we have to take into account that if it is subsequently not honoured by the next government it would lead to en embarrassing situation for the country."
Mukherjee said although India has finalised the language of the safeguards text with the IAEA it was difficult to indicate at this juncture a time frame by when the nuke deal could be wrapped up.
To a question whether the Congress-led coalition will sacrifice the government for the deal, Mukehrjee said "it is not a question of sacrificing the deal or the government." The Left parties have threatened withdrawal of support to the UPA government if it went ahead with operationalising the agreement for the deal, which has been described as a landmark one by the US.
"Our government is interested in ratifying the (nuclear) agreement since we are energy deficient. There is an overall consensus (in India) that nuclear technology is important,” the minister said.
To a question whether a minority government can move forward on the nuclear deal in the event of the Left withdrawing support, Mukherjee said "legally and constitutionally speaking there is nothing called a minority government. But political angularity cannot be ignored."
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