Debate on Indo-US civilian nuclear deal in Parliament may push to the last week of the winter session despite pressure from the Opposition and the Left, governement managers indicated on Tuesday.
While the schedule for the discussion would be fixed by the business advisory committees in both the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha, top sources on Tuesday evening suggested that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?s visits abroad could push the debate to the fag end of the session.
Singh will leave for a three-day visit to Singapore on November 19 to attend the East Asia summit. He will back for a day on November 22 but proceed again to leave for CHOGM meet in Kampala on November 23. He will be back only on November 26. The sources also indicated that the PM would want to be present in Parliament even though external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee could respond to the debate.
There was also another move, government managers hinted, to postpone the meeting of the Left-UPA joint panel for a date after the discussion in Parliament. “It does not make sense to have a meeting of the joint panel when the issue is about to come up for discussion in parliament” a senior leader said. The Left, along with the UNPA or Third Front, have already asked the government to have the debate in parliament and take the “sense of the house” on the issue.
Those involved in the discussions with the Left on the nuclear issue feel that the parliament debate, if it happens, will allow both sides to further articulate their points of view and possibly bring additional clarity on the nuclear agreement.
