Amid the euphoria following the Nuclear Suppliers Group waiver at Vienna, India and the United States are racing against time to cross the final hurdle of the US Congress, which will begin a short session on Monday, in implementing the civilian nuclear initiative as the focus now shifts to Washington.
As the 45-nation powerful nuclear cartel gave approval to India--a non-NPT country--to reap the benefits of the nuclear world after three days of hectic deliberations in the Austrian capital, US leaders began hectic efforts to get the deal cleared by the Congress where it expects opposition from some members.
Officials in New Delhi said US President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have begun talking to various members of the US Congress to clear the deal before the upcoming elections in that country.
The officials did not anticipate any major opposition from members of the Congress although they did not rule out some ''hiccups.'' They were, however, hopeful that the agreement would now be ratified by both countries for final implementation before the present Bush Administration bows out of power.
The officials, while expressing satisfaction at the clearance by the NSG, also said India was disappointed over China's opposition to the deal at the NSG.
Even after the NSG waiver, last minute objections raised by China left India disappointed, specifically because New Delhi had received assurances from Beijing that it would not oppose the waiver at the NSG.
After the Chinese spoke out against the waiver for India on the first day of the NSG meet, Chinese Ambassador to India was summoned by the External Affairs Ministry on Friday night to explain Beijing's position on the deal.
The developments took place as Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi arrives this evening on a three-day visit to India for talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on bilateral, regional and global issues and for further strengthening the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Mr Yang Jiechi, the first senior Chinese leader to visit India this year, will also call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh besides holding delegation-level talks with the External Affairs Minister.
He will also visit Kolkata to formally inaugurate the Chinese Consulate General there.
The US Congress will begin a 17-day session tomorrow and officials expect some members to raise nuclear proliferation concerns. The officials said House International Relations Committee Chairman Howard Bergman, one of the main opponents of the deal, might raise objections.
The letter to Mr Bergman from the State Department, published by the Washington Post on September 3, and in which the State Department had said the deal would be called off if India conducted a nuclear test, created a flutter in India and put the Manmohan Singh government on the defensive casting a shadow on the entire process.
The officials said that afer the NSG waiver, India was in position now to begin nuclear commerce with France and Russia since it had already signed bilateral agreements with the two countries.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also likely to visit France later this month for talks on the possibility of bilateral nuclear trade among other things.
Keeping that in mind, it would be in the best interests of the US Congress to clear the deal fast as otherwise the US would be left behind in getting access to the burgeoning nuclear market in India.
The officials said President Bush could use that argument to convince the US Congress to ratify the deal as fast as possible.
Ever since the agreement was signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush at Washington on July 18, 2005, the deal has faced many hiccups.
Domestically, the government faced a lot of fire from the opposition as well as the Left allies who finally withdrew support plunging the government into a major crisis. Somehow the government survived.
The latest was a disclosure by the Washington Post on September 3, a day before the NSG delberations were to begin, that the State Department had in a letter to US Senator Tom Lantos said the US would stop of nuclear fuel supplies to India if India tested a nuclear device.
The disclosure put the Manmohan Singh government on backfoot since it had all along maintained that India would not compromise its strategic interests.
The political and diplomatic storm, as a result, cast a shadow on the agreement itself as opposition BJP and the Left Parties again opened a front against the government.
The Prime Minister called an emergency meeting of the External Affairs Minister and National Security Advisor M K Narayanan to discuss the issue.
US Ambassador to India, David Mulford, also issued a statement late in the night saying there was nothing new in the letter which had not been told to the US Congress and the government of India.
