05-07-2008, 01:37 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>N-deal dead: Govt to Left </b>
Pioneer.com
Santanu Banerjee | New Delhi
The India-US civil nuclear agreement is finally dead. The <b>UPA Government has conveyed to the Left parties that completing all necessary modalities with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and NSG in time for sealing the deal with the Bush Administration was unlikely.</b>
During the seventh round of the Left-UPA nuclear committee meeting on Tuesday, the Government told top Left leaders that as far as the status of existing 123 Agreement is concerned,<b> it is "dead for the time being" and would have to be renegotiated with the new US Government after the US election process is over</b>.
Senior Congress leader and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee informed the Left leaders about 123 Agreement's current status and also agreed to provide them with the gist of talks the Government representatives had in Vienna with the IAEA. It would help the Left leaders scrutinise what exactly the safeguard talks implied for India's nuclear sovereignty.
Incidentally, in the March 17 UPA-Left meeting when the Left leaders demanded details of the IAEA agreement, the Government denied it on the grounds that IAEA member countries would object to it.
According to sources, Tuesday's talks hovered around the same old issues which Left has been raising for quite some time now -- arrangement of fuel supply in perpetuity, implications of the Hyde Act and strategic reserves. Mukherjee admitted to a group of relaxed Left leaders that the deal cannot be pursued according to the time-frame set earlier
A candid Mukherjee is understood to have told CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary AB Bardhan, RSP general secretary TJ Chandrachoodan and Forward Bloc's D Biswas that the deal had to be "re-visited" after the new Government took over the American Administration later this year.
<b>However, both the UPA and Left leaders have agreed to sit again on May 28 to discuss the "safeguard talks" and see if Left has any problems with it.</b> Despite such categorical assurances, a section of the Left camp is still keeping its fingers crossed. <b>This section believes that if fate takes a good turn for the Congress in Karnataka Assembly elections, the Government would still have time to seal the deal with the Bush administration. "We can't lower our guard," </b>said a Left leader.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister's special envoy on N-deal Shyam Saran said "political uncertainty" over the agreement could increase if the Government in Washington changes. He said the Left parties had raised "valid questions" on the "nature of obligations of India and the obligations of the US" under the agreement and the Government was trying to address the allies' reservations while stressing the advantages of going ahead with the deal.
"This Government has a commitment to the agreement and every possible effort would be made to see the deal through," the former Foreign Secretary, who has been India's key interlocutor on the deal, said while interacting with members of the Women's Press Corps here.
Asked about the prospects of the deal if it failed to go through during the Bush tenure, he said, "Obviously, the sooner we have the deal, the better. As the process continues, the world is not standing still. The level of political uncertainty will increase. Therefore, it is in our interest to get it through sooner than later." Saran noted that there are "certain political realities on the ground" here and also on the US side.
Underlining that it was "not a matter of going this far and leaving it unfinished", he said the nuclear deal was a joint enterprise between India and the US and, therefore, "we have to work together to make it a practical reality".
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It means we will never know what Moron SIngh is hiding.
Sometimes even Left can be used for good cause.
Now defeat of COngress in Karnataka is very important.
Pioneer.com
Santanu Banerjee | New Delhi
The India-US civil nuclear agreement is finally dead. The <b>UPA Government has conveyed to the Left parties that completing all necessary modalities with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and NSG in time for sealing the deal with the Bush Administration was unlikely.</b>
During the seventh round of the Left-UPA nuclear committee meeting on Tuesday, the Government told top Left leaders that as far as the status of existing 123 Agreement is concerned,<b> it is "dead for the time being" and would have to be renegotiated with the new US Government after the US election process is over</b>.
Senior Congress leader and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee informed the Left leaders about 123 Agreement's current status and also agreed to provide them with the gist of talks the Government representatives had in Vienna with the IAEA. It would help the Left leaders scrutinise what exactly the safeguard talks implied for India's nuclear sovereignty.
Incidentally, in the March 17 UPA-Left meeting when the Left leaders demanded details of the IAEA agreement, the Government denied it on the grounds that IAEA member countries would object to it.
According to sources, Tuesday's talks hovered around the same old issues which Left has been raising for quite some time now -- arrangement of fuel supply in perpetuity, implications of the Hyde Act and strategic reserves. Mukherjee admitted to a group of relaxed Left leaders that the deal cannot be pursued according to the time-frame set earlier
A candid Mukherjee is understood to have told CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary AB Bardhan, RSP general secretary TJ Chandrachoodan and Forward Bloc's D Biswas that the deal had to be "re-visited" after the new Government took over the American Administration later this year.
<b>However, both the UPA and Left leaders have agreed to sit again on May 28 to discuss the "safeguard talks" and see if Left has any problems with it.</b> Despite such categorical assurances, a section of the Left camp is still keeping its fingers crossed. <b>This section believes that if fate takes a good turn for the Congress in Karnataka Assembly elections, the Government would still have time to seal the deal with the Bush administration. "We can't lower our guard," </b>said a Left leader.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister's special envoy on N-deal Shyam Saran said "political uncertainty" over the agreement could increase if the Government in Washington changes. He said the Left parties had raised "valid questions" on the "nature of obligations of India and the obligations of the US" under the agreement and the Government was trying to address the allies' reservations while stressing the advantages of going ahead with the deal.
"This Government has a commitment to the agreement and every possible effort would be made to see the deal through," the former Foreign Secretary, who has been India's key interlocutor on the deal, said while interacting with members of the Women's Press Corps here.
Asked about the prospects of the deal if it failed to go through during the Bush tenure, he said, "Obviously, the sooner we have the deal, the better. As the process continues, the world is not standing still. The level of political uncertainty will increase. Therefore, it is in our interest to get it through sooner than later." Saran noted that there are "certain political realities on the ground" here and also on the US side.
Underlining that it was "not a matter of going this far and leaving it unfinished", he said the nuclear deal was a joint enterprise between India and the US and, therefore, "we have to work together to make it a practical reality".
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It means we will never know what Moron SIngh is hiding.
Sometimes even Left can be used for good cause.
Now defeat of COngress in Karnataka is very important.