With the 123 agreement entering the final lap, the Manmohan Singh government is keeping its fingers crossed as the Bush administration is pulling out all stops to push through the nuclear deal by this month-end.
UPA managers involved in the negotiations of the nuclear deal contended on Wednesday that the matter was now very much within the US political domain, with India having little role except to wait and watch. The 123 agreement, which now needs US Congress nod, has been put on the fast track by the Bush administration with secretary of state Condoleezza Rice beginning political parleys with Democratic leaders to ensure bipartisan support for the deal. Reports from Washington said Rice met two key Democrat leaders?Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Howard Berman, chairman of the House foreign affairs committee?to bargain for a procedural exemption that would allow the 123 accord to skip a mandatory 30-day confinement in the US Congress and get it passed before September 26 when the House adjourns.
Earlier, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, in a television interview here, refused to draw a timeline but hinted that the US Congress, being the oldest democracy, had precedents where different procedures had been adopted. He hoped that the 123 agreement got ratified by the US Congress as early as possible.
Rice?s meeting with Berman, especially, is being seen as significant as he, one of the most vocal critics of the deal, had warned that the US Congress should not rush through the 123 agreement. He had also said that he would not consider any ?expedited? timetable for considering the agreement until the government provided him more information about negotiations held at the NSG in Vienna. The indication clearly was that Rice’s meeting was essentially to convince Berman that no ?side deals? had been cut at the NSG meet between the US and difficult member countries to get the India specific waiver.
Berman said if the administration wants to speed Congressional consideration, it must deal first with address problems some lawmakers have, such as what an Indian nuclear test would mean for the deal. ?The burden of proof is on the Bush administration,? Berman said in a statement.
In the meeting with Pelosi, on the other hand, Rice was understood to have discussed the procedural format for taking up the agreement. ?The Speaker looks forward to reviewing the submission in detail and consulting with chairman Berman and members in determining the appropriate course of action,? a spokesperson for Pelosi later said.