With the Congress finding itself busy with efforts to tame inflation and establish its superiority in the Karnataka campaign, and Left parties sticking to their known anti-US stands, any forward movement on the realisation of the nuclear deal is unlikely. The last meeting of the two took place on March 17.

Interestingly, the discussions will be held in the backdrop of positive indications from Washington that the upcoming administration in the White House may also favour the deal.

The UPA and Left parties are to discuss the status of India’s negotiations with the IAEA on an India-specific safeguards agreement for implementing the  deal.

Assurance

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had recently appealed to the Left parties to allow the government to complete the IAEA and NSG processes. He assured that the government would come back to the Parliament to take a “sense of the House” before approaching the US Congress for the final approval.

The minister’s statement appeared to indicate a change in the thinking of the government, which had so far maintained that international agreements were solely in the domain of the Executive.

Besides his assurance to come back to the House after completing the IAEA and NSG procedures, Mukherjee had also stated that the deal would be requiring national legislations and the Parliament had the power to block the deal at that time also.

International treaty

“For implementation of any international agreement, national legislations are required. If the Parliament blocks the national legislation, then the international treaty becomes meaningless,” Mukherjee had  said recently.

When asked a Left leader said, “we will consider what the government will report to us on its talks with the IAEA. On that basis, we will take the issue forward.”