Sonia as committed to nuclear deal as PM: Congress

Congress president Sonia Gandhi is as committed to the India-United States civilian nuclear agreement as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the party will not let him down on the issue, senior leader and Union Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi has said.

"Mrs Gandhi as the head of the party and the United Progressive Alliance is fully committed (to the deal)... there is no difference between Mrs Gandhi and the Prime Minister."

"There are attempts in the country by a section of the media to create a mischievous difference between Mrs Gandhi and the PM, including on the nuclear treaty," Dasmunsi said in an interview to a television channel.

He was replying to a question on whether the Congress president was as committed to the deal as the Prime Minister.

"I am absolutely clear in my mind that in coalition politics,where the government is seeking support from others, such kind of confusion and things may come, but we shall not let down our Prime Minister," he said.

"We stand firmly by the Prime Minister come what may the situation," Dasmunsi said.

He further said that UPA allies like the Nationalist Congress Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam stood by Singh on the nuclear deal issue.

Side-stepping questions on whether the UPA government will complete five years in office in the wake of the Left parties threatening to pull it down if it went ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal, Dasmunsi said, "The government is completing full five years. No question about that. The government is already in the fifth year and it will complete it," he said.

He expressed confidence that the deal will get through the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Supplier's Group scrutiny and will be given back to the US Congress before this year's end.

"The way things are moving, it may soon happen," Dasmunsi said.