NEW DELHI, 11 October 2007 — The UN nuclear watchdog’s head held talks yesterday with Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi as concern grows a prolonged government row with the communists could scupper a nuclear deal with the United States or spark snap elections.

Mohamed El-Baradei, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief, is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today.

India’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the talks between Mukherjee and El-Baradei, but Baradei told reporters after the meeting he hoped the Indian government would go ahead with the US nuclear deal. “It’s something for the government to decide but I would like to see India having access to state of the art and modern nuclear technology and make full use of it,” he said. Mukherjee reportedly explained to Baradei India’s 123 deal with the US, which the IAEA chief supported.

Underscoring warmer ties with Washington, the deal would allow India to import US nuclear fuel and reactors, despite having tested nuclear weapons and not signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But the communists have warned the government against talking to the IAEA about placing civilian nuclear reactors under UN safeguards, a first step in making the deal operational. Ruling out formal discussions with Baradei on the Indo-US nuclear deal, sources in New Delhi said: “There is enough to talk with him. We have a whole range of issues. We don’t have to discuss the (Indo-US) nuclear deal. The IAEA has a standard safeguards system. We will discuss safeguards in general sense.”

In a fresh warning to the UPA government, communists said yesterday they would follow through with a threat to withdraw support from the minority coalition government if it goes ahead with the contentious Indo-US nuclear pact.

A senior communist party leader said a four-party Left-wing bloc, which props up the Congress-led coalition in Parliament, said it had made it clear it was “against the (nuclear) agreement” with Washington.

“We conveyed our sentiments to the government” during a meeting on Tuesday with Congress and its coalition allies, said the official, who asked not to be named.

“We told them clearly we are opposed to the deal and if the government still wanted to proceed they would have to face the consequences,” he said.

The communists have repeatedly threatened to withdraw their support in Parliament if the government pushes ahead with the pact, which would allow energy-hungry India to buy civilian nuclear technology.

“We are against the agreement,” Revolutionary Socialist Party Secretary and member of Parliament Abani Roy told the Press Trust of India. “The political decisions we have taken is that if you go ahead, we have to withdraw.”