After deciding to put the nuclear deal on hold, the UPA government is now expected to formally convey its stand to the key players involved in the deal.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to brief US president George W Bush on developments on the Indo-US nuclear deal, according to a PTI report from Abuja on Monday.

Government sources here, on the other hand, said a formal indication to the Left parties?that the deal was put on hold?would be given at the next UPA-Left meeting on October 22. In his telephonic conversation, the Prime Minister is likely to apprise Bush about the hurdles faced by his government in taking the next step to make the deal operational, the news report said.

Left sources said the CPI(M), in fact, has decided to postpone its politburo meeting, scheduled for October 18, to a later date at the end of the month in the wake of assertions by both the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi that there would not be any confrontation with the Left and that the government would last its full five-year term. Singh also said that ?no deal do not mean the end of the world?.

Government sources indicated that in the event of the assurance that the deal would not be operationalised, the UPA-Left meet next week could be the last meeting on the subject. The October 22 meet, as per schedule, is to go into implications of the Hyde Act on the 123 Agreement. The Left has already given its views on the subject in the form of a note to the Centre. However, in the event of clear signals from the UPA that it would not push for the deal at the cost of the government, party circles expect the meeting to be more of a formality.

Railway minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad too on Monday reiterated the stand of allies when he ruled out snap polls and asserted that the stand-off between the UPA and Left parties over the nuclear deal had already been resolved. ?There is not even a remote possibility of mid-term elections. The differences that cropped up between the UPA and the Left parties over the nuclear issue have been amicably resolved,? he said after laying the foundation of the Rs 1,300-crore locomotive factory in Madhepura.

Meanwhile, a top American official on Monday pushed for nuclear energy, saying it was a zero emission source of electricity. ?Nuclear energy is the zero emission energy source of electricity,? James L Connaughton, chairman of the Council on Environment Quality , said here.