INDIA: Having clinched crucial political support, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Japan yesterday for the G8 summit, where he may formally press ahead with a civilian nuclear deal with the US.
Mr Singh appears to have secured a parliamentary majority for his government to replace his communist allies, who say they will withdraw their support if the deal goes ahead. The left criticises the deal as making India subservient to Washington.
The pact would be one of Mr Singh's most important achievements in four years of office, giving India access to US nuclear fuel and technology and moving the Asian giant's trade and diplomatic relations closer to the West.
Mr Singh is due to hold a bilateral meeting tomorrow with US president George W Bush - who shook hands with Mr Singh on the accord in 2005 - when he is expected to say the deal is going ahead.
If Mr Singh gives the green light, an International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 35-nation board of governors could meet as early as July 28th to ratify a recent safeguards accord between India and IAEA inspectors, a step required for the US-India deal to take effect, according to diplomats accredited to the agency.
Mr Singh said yesterday that India would approach the IAEA to have it submit the safeguards text for board approval "very soon".
While the IAEA diplomats said there was talk of a July 28th gathering, they said a timetable for advancing the deal remained unclear until Mr Singh authorised the IAEA to proceed.
But some say it could already be too late for the deal to be passed before the end of Mr Bush's term.
With time running out before the US election in November, India needs to seek approval for the deal from the IAEA, then the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, where there is doubt about the deal as India is outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and finally ratification by the US Congress.
To secure the deal and his government's survival, Mr Singh has realigned his coalition by gaining the support of the Samajwadi Party, a regional party from northern India. Their support should ensure he avoids having to hold an early election this year.
The four communist parties that give the coalition a parliamentary majority had set yesterday as a deadline for the government to say if it was going ahead with the deal. One party, the Forward Bloc, said yesterday the left would withdraw its support on Thursday.
The government did not say if it was proceeding with the deal, but requested a meeting with the left on Thursday - an encounter that could see a formal split. - ( Reuters)