Cong rejects Left deadline to govt on nuke deal

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) Congress Friday rejected the July
seven deadline set by the Left parties to the U.P.A.
government to clarify whether it was moving forward on the
Indo-U.S. nuclear deal saying sovereign governments or
political parties cannot be bound by ultimatums.

"Sovereign governments or political parties cannot be
subjected to deadlines," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi
told reporters shortly after the Left parties set a July seven
deadline for the government to clarify its position on
approaching the I.A.E.A. for sealing the India-specific
safeguards agreement.

"We are working towards triple objectives -- to do a
nuclear deal in national interest, to carry along our allies
with us for that purpose and to go to elections as per the
Constitutional schedule," he said.

Rejecting suggestions of an "unholy alliance", Singhvi
said, "Samajwadi Party and the Congress have never been
mutually untouchable in the same sense as the Left and the
B.J.P. or the Congress and the B.J.P."

Singhvi said the Congress had not changed its stand on
the nuclear deal "by even one millimetre".

"We believe that the nuclear deal is in national interest
and are happy that other parties in the national interest are
slowly converging to our view point," he said.

Asked whether the bonhomie with the Samajwadi Party would
extend to Uttar Pradesh, he said, "I need to emphasise that
the current contextual developments were at the national
level. I have said nothing at the regional level."

"However, once cooperation and convergence starts at the
national level, it is not unnatural of it to assume wider
proportions subsuming regional levels also," Singhvi said. PTI
SPG