UPA ducks Left, pushes N-deal quietly in Vienna

STEP BY STEP: The Nuclear Suppliers Group is meeting in Vienna on Thursday to discuss the India-US civil nuclear deal.

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New Delhi: With the Left keeping a hawk eye on the developments in Vienna, the UPA Government has adopted a hide-and-seek approach on the nuclear deal, trying to push things in a hush-hush way without making anything official.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is likely to meet in Vienna on Thursday to discuss the India-US civil nuclear deal as part of a US initiative. But officially, India's representative Anil Kakodkar will not be attending these talks.

The NSG meet is likely to hold only preliminary discussions on the issue. The meeting has been convened by the US as it's for Washington to persuade the NSG for rules change in favour of India.

The government is playing it safe so far. On Wednesday, it even gave an assurance to its Left allies that the Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission would not be present at the NSG meeting. Earlier, the Left parties had reacted sharply to reports about Thursday's scheduled NSG meeting to discuss various aspects of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Left sources later said they have decided not to press the issue since the NSG meeting was being convened by the US.

At the same time, the government however appears ready to take forward the negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) next month despite the Left's caveat. "We are hopeful of concluding negotiations with the IAEA next month," news agency IANS quoted a Left source as saying.

"There are political considerations. But we will go ahead," the source said. Such a bold measure appears eminent now after a second round of meeting of the 'political mechanism' formed between the UPA and the Left on the nuclear deal ended without consensus on Wednesday.

In fact, the differences between the two sides now appear irreconcilable with the two sides sticking to their guns on the pact.

Though the convener of the panel and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee claimed that the two-hour meeting was 'constructive', Left leaders said they were not convinced by any of the arguments put forward by the government in favour of the deal.

Kakodkar himself has tactfully kept quiet on when New Delhi will begin negotiations with the UN nuclear watchdog to place its civilian nuclear reactors under India-specific safeguards.

The External Affairs Ministry, however, chose not to comment on the status of India's negotiations with the IAEA. "I have nothing to say on that," MEA spokesperson Navtej Sarna said.

K Subrahmanyam, who heads a task force appointed by the government to review India's nuclear policy, said: "India has only one step to take, that is, to complete its negotiations with the IAEA. This will be done next month. We have time on hand to complete the deal."

"In all probability it will go through," Subrahmanyam said, when asked about political opposition to the deal from the government's Left allies and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The next meeting of the 15-member panel would be held on October 5. In between, the Left would send another note to the UPA on September 24 and the ruling coalition would reply to it on September 27.

(With agency inputs)