N-deal may be dead deal if not worked out by Jan

FUSION AND FISSION: There has been no softening of stances with UPA and Left sticking to their views on the Hyde Act.

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New Delhi: The US Ambassador to India, David Mulford has arrived with a blunt message for Indian Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran. Mulford says that there is no time to waste on the nuclear deal and any delay beyond January and the deal could be effectively dead.

When Ambassador Mulford briefed Shyam Saran on the Bush administration's timetable for the nuclear deal, he was clearly unfazed by the Left criticsm and the roadblock which the Indian Government seems to have hit over the deal.

Even though Shyam Saran assured Mulford that there was no rollback on the deal, Washington is getting edgy about the political fission in the Indian Capital, forcing both officials to discuss the following in detail:

• The Government's strategy to deal with the Left
• India's plan to finalise the safeguards with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by November



• American plans to drum up support for India through a special meeting of Nucelar Supplier's Group (NSG) countries on the sidelines of the IAEA meeting
• India's own recent lobbying efforts with NSG countries like China and South Korea

As Mulford made his way with the status update to Washington, in Vienna India's nuclear pointperson, Anil Kakodkar played it safe and said nothing about the safeguards issue. However, he did say that it was in everybody's interest to finalise the nuclear deal.

Meanwhile in New Delhi, there has been another Left-UPA meeting and another attempt to buy time before the inevitable — the operationalising of the deal.

However, there has been no softening of stances with both the UPA and the Left sticking to their known views on the Hyde Act. The Left thought it best not to hide its feelings.

CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan, said, "The US has given its timetable and so we have given ours too to the Government."

For the Government though, it's all about time now — meeting the deal time frame, buying time with the Left and then choosing the best time for the mid-term polls.

(With inputs from Parul Malhotra in New Delhi)