The UPA government?s determination to push through the nuclear deal will see Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reaching out to crucial members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group at the G-8 summit beginning in Tokyo next week.
Congress sources have contended that Singh will not only take the opportunity to hold parleys on the nuclear deal with President George Bush separately on the sidelines of the Hokkaido meet, but will also use the occasion to seek the support of countries like Germany, Canada, Japan as well as China for a special waiver for India from the NSG to be able to do nuclear business in the future.
The Prime Minister is expected to individually engage leaders of these countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Yasua Fukuda, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Chinese premier at the three-day summit.
Support from these countries, along with others like Australia, who are part of the 45-member NSG countries, cannot be taken for granted and India would have to lobby with them at the highest level, sources said. While the US will play a key role in ensuring that India?s request at the NSG is not rejected, sources pointed out that New Delhi?s own efforts to engage the NSG was evident when the Prime Minister last year appointed former foreign secretary Shyam Saran as special envoy for the particular job.
Prime Minister Singh?s visit to Tokyo, however, is unlikely to have a dramatic bearing on the domestic front yet with party circles hinting that matters may precipitate only after his return. The presumption therefore is that the government will move the IAEA seeking a special meeting of the board of governors only after his return from Japan. In any case, Left parties have indicated that they would not like to embarrass the Prime Minister by withdrawing support to his government when he is abroad.