Raising some hope for the Indo-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said that the process of evolving a ??meaningful consensus?? with the Left was on.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration on Wednesday maintained that the agreement was ?not dead? and expressed confidence that it could still be operationalised by the original timeframe of 2008.
??Well, the process of evolving a meaningful consensus is still on,?? Singh, currently on a visit to South Africa, told a joint press conference at the end of the IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) Summit in Pretoria.
Singh was asked how he would reconcile political compulsions at home with the dialogue process involving Brazil and South Africa on their approach to co-operation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy under appropriate IAEA safeguards mentioned in the IBSA declaration released at the Summit.
The Prime Minister had on Monday told US President George Bush that there were ?certain difficulties? in operationalisation of the nuclear deal. His latest remarks in Pretoria, however, were clearly orchestrated with the assertion by the Congress party here that the agreement was ?not in cold storage? and pointing out that there could be more meetings of the UPA-Left Committee after October 22 to ??narrow down the differences??.
The Congress also dismissed as ?speculation? that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is contemplating to resign, ?hurt? by the behaviour of the allies over the issue.
??The deal is not in cold storage and is very much in the offing,?? AICC spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said at the party briefing here. He added that the Prime Minister had full confidence of all the allies and there was no question of either him or the government resigning. The Left, on the other hand, indicated that they would formally seek an assurance from the government in the joint meeting next week that the nuclear deal has been put on hold.
The contradictory positions notwithstanding, party circles contended that the deal had been put on ?pause? for the time being and agreed with the US contention that it was still possible for the nuclear deal to come through by next year. ?Why not. There is still time? a senior minister said.
In Washington, state department deputy spokesperson Tom Casey told reporters at a daily briefing, ??We believe it?s still possible for that to happen. Obviously, a number of things would have to occur for that to be ultimately implemented. But it’s a long time between now and the end of 2008 and we’ll see where we are.??
Notwithstanding US concerns over the delay, Casey maintained, ??We would hope that India would be able to move forward with this agreement and that we would be able to complete it in 2008, which was in general keeping with the original timeframe we had outlined for it.??
“It is an issue that we have talked about with the Indians … in addition to the conversation that the President and the Prime Minister had … under-secretary Burns has spoken with his counterparts over the weekend and continue to do so today. We’ve also had conversations between ambassador Mulford and some officials in India as well about this. So this is something I expect is going to continue to be the subject of discussion,” the official said.
Earlier, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the nuclear deal is “not dead”. “India is a thriving democracy and they have work to do and they may need some additional time on their end to get their part of this deal done,” he said. “The President is willing and is very understanding that the Indians may need more time for this. But no, it’s not — it’s not dead,” he said.
