What's the road ahead for N-deal

Just hours before the Left withdrew support from the UPA government Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met the Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Japan.

China has been ambivalent on the Indo-US nuclear deal, but its support is crucial to get an exemption for India from the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group that controls the supply of uranium the world over.

The two leaders discussed everything from climate change to the boundary dispute, but the Indian delegation was focused on its task.

''We do not anticipate that this would be a problem between us. China has expressed the willingness to cooperate with India,'' said Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary.

But sources say three other countries could be a problem:

• Ireland, Sweden and New Zealand, who have strong non proliferation agendas
  
• Even though Australia will not sell uranium to India, it's expected to go by the consensus
  
• The big supporters for India at the NSG will of course, be the United States, Britain, France and Russia
  
  But every country on the NSG has veto power, so consensus among the NSG is crucial.
  
  ''See we have no reason to believe that there will be a problem. The NSG countries we have talking to are very supportive. But very frankly, we are not in a position to comment about a process that's going to be a first for us,'' Menon added.
  
  But will the Left withdrawal make it difficult for India to get international support.
  
  ''We went through the day as we had planned to, we did not see any effect,'' Menon further said.
  
  PM Manmohan Singh's meeting with President Bush is extremely significant now. The Bush administration has to go all out now and try to convince every NSG members to support the deal.
  
  But the question is: Can a US President who steps down in a few months from now achieve this in a short span of time.

PM says UPA government safe

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted on Tuesday that the Left's withdrawal of support would not affect his government's stability.

Speaking in Japan on the sidelines of the G8 summit, Manmohan Singh told reporters that ''Left pulling out will not affect the stability of the government.'' He was reacting to the Left parties announcing earlier in the day that they were withdrawing their legislative support to the Congress-led UPA government.

The Left withdrew support to the government, citing as immediate provocation the Prime Minister's statement in Tokyo on Monday that he would be going to the International Atomic Energy Agency soon. It has sought an appointment with President Pratibha Patil to formally withdraw support, and is expected to meet her at noon on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference in the Capital, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said the PM's statement made ''waiting for July 10 meaningless''. The Left had earlier set July 10 as a deadline.

Karat said, ''We have sent a letter to Pranab Mukherjee...In view of the PM's statement, we are withdrawing support.''

The Prime Minister had said in response to a question that his government would go to the IAEA soon. The Left felt he could have been less direct to the media before giving his allies an answer to the same question.

The Left parties were angry that Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee gave only an ''evasive reply'' to their July 7 deadline for letting them know when the government planned to go to the IAEA. Mukherjee had reacted to the ultimatum by inviting the Left for yet another round of talks.

Immediately after the Left withdrew support, Congress sources told NDTV that they had the support of Ajit Singh and HD Deve Gowda. Also that the Samajwadi Party now had to ''manage numbers.''
But Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh, who has three MPs, said later that he would first hold talks within the party before committing on anything. ''We have no alliances with any other party'', he said.

But Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh assured the Congress they would support the government on the nuclear deal. ''Every Samajwadi Party vote in Parliament will be cast in support of the Indo-US nuclear deal and to save the UPA government,'' said Amar Singh.

The BJP, meanwhile, has demanded that the government prove its majority in Parliament soon, terming the Left-UPA alliance as an ''unholy tie-up forged only to keep the BJP out'' and one bound to break soon.

Sources also said Parliament could be convened in a week.

7 BSP MPs are in touch with us on N-deal: Amar

Countering BSP's efforts of trying to wean away Samajwadi Party's Muslim MPs by playing the ''nuclear deal being anti-Muslim'' card, SP on Tuesday claimed it had support of seven BSP MPs on the issue.

SP general secretary Amar Singh claimed seven BSP MPs had contacted him on backing the deal. He, however, did not name the MPs.

''With the nuclear deal receiving the backing of all the important centres of Islamic learning like Bareli, Saharanpur, and Bahraich, BSP is jittery. Seven MPs of BSP have contacted us as they are fed up and disgusted with their party leadership's constant demand of money,'' Singh told reporters in New Delhi.

He accused BSP of ''communalising'' the nuclear deal issue.

Earlier SP leaders had denied that any of its MPs had been approached by BSP.

PM canvasses support for N-deal at G8

As the Left parties watch every move of the government on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet US President George W Bush and other influential members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and seek their support for the civil nuclear cooperation with the US in these fora.

Singh, who struck the deal with Bush in July 2005 and has encountered strong opposition from the Left allies now threatening to withdraw support to the government, will undertake a two-hour early morning drive on Wednesday for his meeting with Bush in Toya, about 200 km from Sapporo, a place where all the G-8 leaders are staying.

The meeting is slated before 0800 hours after which the prime minister will have a breakfast meeting with G-8 as part of the O-5 outreach countries summit with them. He will review the progress on the deal with the President.

Singh may brief Bush on the recent political developments in which he has won new and crucial political support for the deal at home in the face of severe opposition from the Left and the possibility of overcoming problems in Parliament from the Left action.

The government's plans on approaching the International Atomic Energy Watchdog (IAEA) for securing an India-specific safeguards agreement and moves for taking the matter to the NSG are expected to figure in the discussions with Bush.

The prime minister has pointed out that the US was committed once India takes the decision Washington will have to fulfill its promises. It is a public commitment on their part, the prime minister said on Monday.

He had also said the government would approach the IAEA ''very soon'' and once it takes the decision the process in this regard was expected to move ''pretty fast''.