Nuclear deal on hold till panel report

NEW DELHI: Round one of the Congress-Left confrontation over the nuclear deal has gone in favour of the Left. The government bought peace with the Left through a vague formulation —"the operationalisation of the deal will take into account the committee’s findings" — after several rounds of discussions with Left leaders.

The government managers on Thursday late evening conceded that the deal has been put on the “go slow” mode till November — the next meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). They will also convey to their counterparts in other countries that the discussions on the issue will now be conditional.

The temporary pact was approved at a brief meeting at the prime minister’s residence on Thursday evening. External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after the meeting that the “committee will look into certain aspects of the bilateral agreement.”(between India and the US); the implications of the Hyde Act on the 123 agreement and self reliance in the nuclear sector; the implications of the nuclear agreement on foreign policy and security co-operation.”

In what is clearly aimed at addressing the Left bottomline of “no forward movement on the deal till the committee finalises its report”, the government said “the operationalisation of the deal will take into account the committee’s findings.” That it satisfied the Left was evident when CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and other Left leaders said they are happy with the proposed mechanism for discussing the issue.

Coming to the big picture, the development will upset the timeline that the government has in mind for operationalising the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. The two remaining hurdles — extracting India-specific safeguards from IAEA and support of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group — will have to be completed before February.

The two negotiations are as complicated as the one that India experienced while thrashing out the 123 Agreement with the US. Although a section of the government is aiming at restarting formal negotiations in November, not many see any resolution to the irreconcilable differences in the approaches of the Left and the government.

Both sides acknowledged that the constitution of the mechanism will only provide a breather for the government, at best a hassle-free monsoon session of Parliament. There are no indications to suggest that the Left will step back from its opposition to the engagement with the US. Its leaders have made it clear that their quarrel was not with the 123 Agreement alone, but a host of issues concerning India’s relations with the US.

The government can put the deal in the freezer only at the cost of the prime ministerial authority. It will be the biggest advertisement of the fact that the government cannot take forward a decision cleared by the Cabinet because of political pressure from within. The government leaders are quite realistic about the shape of things to come. None of the senior leaders of the party were willing to say that the deadlock has been resolved. Party managers feel that the truce period can be used for planning some big-ticket measures for enhancing the electoral appeal of the Congress.

Meanwhile, the government said the “composition of the committee will be announced shortly”. While efforts are on from the Congress side to ensure the dominance of pro-deal UPA leaders in the committee, the Left will be represented by Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, AB Bardhan, D Raja, Abani Roy and Debabrata Biswas.