Source:
DawnJuly 09, 2008
Wednesday
Rajab 5, 1429
By Jawed Naqvi
NEW DELHI, July 8: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government was thrown in a crisis on Tuesday after the Left Front withdrew its crucial support to the four and a half years old alliance following differences over the proposed India-US civil nuclear deal.
India needs the support of the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group before the deal with the United States is operationalised. It also needs China’s support, among other countries, on both counts for a meaningful progress on it. But Tuesday’s sudden developments put the focus back on the domestic vulnerability of Dr Singh.
The prime minister precipitated the looming separation with the communist group on his way to Japan and ahead of a meeting there with US President George W. Bush.
He unilaterally declared that India would go the IAEA soon. The Left Front described the statement as a fawning gesture to Mr Bush and announced the withdrawal of support by its 59 MPs to the government it had helped form in May 2004. Elections are not due till May next year but may now be brought forward ...
Read more:
http://www.dawn.com/2008/07/09/top10.htm
Key India party to support nuclear deal with U.S.
Tue Jul 8, 2008 1:18pm IST
NEW DELHI, July 8 (Reuters) - The Samajwadi Party, which now holds the balance of power in parliament after the communists announced their withdrawal, said on Tuesday it will vote with the government in support of the nuclear deal with the United States ...
http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINISL26819520080708Why keep the IAEA secret, Left asks
8 Jul, 2008, 1456 hrs IST, IANS
NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Tuesday sought a discussion "with full transparency" on the IAEA safeguards agreement and asked: "Why is the Manmohan Singh government keeping the draft of the IAEA agreement from the people of India?"
Raising several vital questions related to the India-US nuclear deal and the safeguards pact, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and its three allies said, "the full text of the agreement is necessary to clarify the major issues involved".
In a joint statement, the CPI-M, Communist Party of India (CPI), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc said:
"The UPA Government has refused to submit the draft text of the IAEA Safeguards Agreement to the UPA-Left committee. As the experience of the 123 agreement has shown, the claims of the government made prior to the negotiations are not borne out by the actual text. Thus the full text of the agreement is necessary to clarify the major issues involved ...
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Why_keep_the_IAEA_secret_Left_asks/articleshow/3210737.cmsUS plays 'time running out' tune again
9 Jul, 2008, 0556 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Urging India to move faster on the nuclear deal, the US reiterated that time is running out for the nuclear deal with the US Congress having only a limited number of legislative days in which to give its approval for the agreement.
In a clear indication that the pressure is now on both India and the US to make it within the existing timeframe, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino was quoted as saying that the US Congress had a heavy workload and “a limited number of legislative days.” Her ‘time-is-running-out’ statement significantly comes on the eve of bilateral discussions between US President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The two leaders are expected to finalise the strategy for concluding the remaining steps in operationalising the nuclear deal.
“We’ll have to see what he’s (Mr Singh) able to bring on the India civil nuclear agreement. But we obviously recognise as well that we have a limited number of legislative days for our Congress to get a lot of work done,” the spokeswoman said at G-8 summit in Japan ...
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/US_plays_time_running_out_tune_again/articleshow/3212777.cmsCongress May Not Pass U.S.-India Nuclear Pact
New Delhi Could Turn to Other Nations
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 9, 2008; Page A10
India's civil nuclear agreement with the United States may have cleared a key hurdle in New Delhi this week, but it appears unlikely to win final approval in the U.S. Congress this year, raising the possibility that India could begin nuclear trade with other countries even without the Bush administration's signature deal, according to administration officials and congressional aides.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has struggled to keep his coalition government intact over the controversial deal to give New Delhi access to U.S. nuclear technology for the first time since it conducted a nuclear test in 1974. This week, he secured an agreement with the Samajwadi Party to back the deal, giving him enough support to retain his majority even as the Communists bolted over fears that the pact would infringe on India's sovereignty.
But the congressional law passed in 2006 -- called the Hyde Act -- that gave preliminary approval to the U.S.-India agreement, requires that Congress be in 30 days of continuous session to consider it. Congressional aides said that clock can only begin to tick once India clears two more hurdles -- completing an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and securing approval from the 45 nations that form the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which governs trade in reactors and uranium. Because of the long August recess, there are less than 40 days left in the session before Congress adjourns on September 26 ...
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has repeatedly insisted there will be no lame duck session after the Nov. 4 elections. There would be little incentive for the Democratic majority to hold a lame duck session if, as expected, the Democrats significantly gain seats ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070801523.html?hpid=moreheadlines
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