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India unable to commit to timeline for finalizing nuclear agreement with US

India said on Tuesday it could not commit to any US timeline for finalization of a landmark nuclear deal caught in a deadlock among its ruling coalition partners.

Indian Foreign Minister Pranap Mukherjee said New Delhi needed "more time" to forge an agreement on the deal despite a tight 2008 US legislative calendar ahead of the November presidential polls.

US President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed more than two years ago on the deal, in which Washington would provide India with nuclear fuel and technology even though the Asian nation had not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But the agreement has failed to win the support of the Indian ruling Congress-led coalition's Communist allies, who feared the sovereignty of the nuclear armed nation would be compromised and New Delhi might ally more closely with the US.

"At this juncture, it is difficult for me to indicate any time frame by which we will be able to complete this process," Mukherjee told a news conference in Washington after talks with Bush and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"We are trying to resolve the issues but it may take some more time," he said.

The Bush administration and the US Congress have warned India about the limited time available for the civil nuclear deal to be approved by the legislature before Bush leaves the White House next January.

Could the deal clear Congress by mid-year?

"I think as that you get further and further into the Congressional calendar, I think it's fair to say it's more and more difficult just because of the political realities of the press of business," State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"The main issue now is the Indian government working its domestic politics," he said.

US Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, had said the agreement had to come before the Senate for approval no later than July.

Asked about the time constraints, Mukherjee emphasized that unless the outstanding issues among India's coalition partners were resolved, "it would be difficult for us to [meet] any particular time frame."

The communist parties, who prop up the minority government in parliament, have threatened to withdraw their support of the government and force early elections if Indian leaders move to implement the deal.

The government had defended the pact as critical for providing new fuel sources to keep the energy-hungry nation's economy growing strongly.

In addition to resolving the political problem, India also needs approval from the International Atomic Energy Agency to place its civilian nuclear reactors under UN safeguards as part of the atomic deal.

In addition, it also needs the green light from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which regulates global civilian nuclear trade.

Asked whether the Indian coalition was prepared to forgo the government for the sake of the deal, Mukherjee said: "It's not a question of sacrificing either the deal or the government.

"Currently, we are engaged in resolving the issues and try to find a meeting ground between us and a section of our supporters," he said.

The minister also said that Singh's administration would have to continue finding common ground on the nuclear deal to ensure that the agreement would not be scrapped by any future governments.

"We shall have to take into account that even if we sign an important international agreement, if it is subsequently not honored by the next government, it may lead to an embarrassing situation," he said.

"We want to avert that situation and that's why we are making this exercise -- it may be very time consuming and it is taxing our patience, but nonetheless we do feel it is worth pursuing," he said.
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