US?presses?India on nuclear deal

The US has stepped up its bid to persuade India to proceed with the civil nuclear deal between the two countries, amid fears in Washington that time to ratify the agreement could run out unless the Indian coalition government rallies around it soon.

In a sign of the US administration's impatience for progress on a deal it sees as a signal foreign policy achievement, President George W. Bush met Pranab Mukherjee, India's foreign minister, in the White House this week.

It is rare for Mr Bush to meet a foreign minister, rather than a head of state or government, in the White House.

Mr Mukherjee then discussed the civil nuclear deal over dinner on Monday with Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state.

While the US sees the deal as underpinning a growing strategic relationship between Washington and New Delhi, Indian politicians are worried about the restraints the agreement could impose on the country's nuclear activities.

"One of the important issues now is the domestic politics in India, the decisions that the Indian government has before it in terms of how it will move the agreement forward through its own political system," Sean McCormack, the US state department spokesman, said yesterday.

"As you get further and further into the [US] congressional calendar?.?.?.? you have less and less time to get things done," he added, highlighting the pressures on Congress during this election year.

Joe Biden, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, has warned the deal stands "little chance" of US ratification unless it is submitted to Congress by June. That would give India only weeks to conclude agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the 45-nation nuclear suppliers group and, perhaps most importantly, to provide final Indian government backing for such arrangements.

Previous US deadlines have already expired. But US officials warn that the next administration could take a different approach towards India.

"I'd rather get this thing pinned down and done now than to say who knows what will happen in a year," Richard Boucher, the US's top diplomat on south Asia, said this month.

Several Communist parties that form part of India's coalition government have threatened to withdraw support if New Delhi putsthe nuclear agreement into operation.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has stated that "there is no political consensus and hence [the government] should not proceed further with the agreement". Mr Mukherjee maintains good relations with the leftwing parties that are blocking the agreement.

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