Indo-US N-deal needs revision: Rice

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

26/11: Terror comes precariously close

Featured Slideshows

New York US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is said to have told a delegation of visiting Indian MPs that India should be prepared to accept some amendments to the bilateral nuclear agreement to facilitate its approval on Capitol Hill.

But the former American Ambassador to India, Frank Wisner, believes the US Congress is unlikely to make too many demands on India.

Wisner says, "Most Congressmen and Senators know that if a material difference was introduced legislatively into the agreement, the agreement would die on the Indian side."

"I see if there are any modifications they would be impositions on the Administration, not on India, and the deal would be looked at in a clean manner," he added.

Wisner also said that winning Congressional approval for the deal would not be easy, but he was hopeful it would happen soon.

But the question is how soon.

The legislative calendar is crowded, and both houses will break for a month long summer recess in August, before Congressional elections in November.

There is now a sense of urgency on both the Indian and American sides to see the agreement passed by the current legislature.