NEW DELHI, 15 November 2007 — India’s troubled coalition is close to a compromise over the future of an atomic energy deal with Washington that had threatened to bring down the government, an official said yesterday.
The official close to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said left-wing politicians, who prop up the dominant Congress party, may allow the government to engage in talks on moving the deal forward while retaining their veto right.
“From their recent comments, it would seem there is a softening of their position,” the top government official said of the Communists and other left-wing coalition members who are opposed to the deal.
The deal, clinched in August, aims to bring New Delhi into the loop of global nuclear commerce after a gap of three decades and is seen as the cornerstone of India’s rapidly warming ties with the United States.
But left-wingers argue the pact — which would involve India allowing international inspections of some of its nuclear sites — could also restrict India’s nuclear weapons program.
They are also opposed to closer ties with Washington, and had threatened to force early elections.
But the official, who asked not to be named, said the government may now be allowed to open talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on a nuclear safeguards agreement that needs to be signed before the pact can be implemented. Left-wing parties could then examine any proposed accord and then make a decision on whether they should veto it, he said.
