N-deal is on, says govt in House

NEW DELHI: Braving the Left opposition, the Manmohan Singh government on Monday declared that it was still hopeful of inking Indo-US civil nuclear deal. The government���s assertion, spelt out in the President���s address to Parliament, comes on a day when its representatives have started the latest and a key round of negotiations with IAEA on the India-specific safeguards.

It also coincides with the Centre extending the tenure of its two key pointsmen in USA ��� Indian ambassador Ronen Sen and country���s permanent representative at UN Nirupam Sen.

���It is our hope that civil nuclear co-operation with USA and other friendly countries will become possible���, said President Pratibha Patil. The government resolve should not surprise the Left as the Centre has been going ahead with the talks with IAEA despite CPM boss Prakash Karat publicly setting a December-end (���after the Gujarat assembly elections���) deadline to ���end the deal negotiations or face fresh Lok Sabha polls���.

The government started talks with IAEA after the Left was made to give up its initial opposition to that and with an understanding that the government will discuss the draft agreement within the UPA-Left committee before going ahead with it. The US authorities have now started talking about a June deadline for completing the deal.

The President has also said India���s ���relations with the US have improved in the past few years, and now span of wide spectrum including high technology, space, agriculture, education and trade amid other linkages���.

Understandably, the government has also made it a point to emphasis that India���s bilateral ties with many major nations ��� Russia, UK and EU ��� have also improved while underlining that New Delhi ���attaches high importance to its bilateral relations with China���. The address said New Delhi was committed to peace, friendship and good neighbourly relation with Pakistan.