Mumbai: The nuclear deal "will have to happen in the interest of the nation,'' the Congress today asserted amidst threat by Left allies of to withdraw support to the UPA government at the centre.

"The deal will have to happen in the interest of the nation", party spokesman M Veerappa Moily said.

Moily sought to downplay the CPM demand for an immediate meeting of UPA-Left committee and its warning about the future of the government.

"I don't think it as an ultimatum or government is under threat," Moily said.

He said the government's key supporters had never been "unreasonable" and "till today everyone is on board and nothing has been obstructed and deal is on course."

Moily's remarks come close on the heels external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, scotching speculation about early polls.

Mukherjee made it clear that the survival of the government was more important than the Indo-US nuclear deal and Left Parties will have to be taken on board.

He also ruled out the possibility of a minority government signing the nuclear agreement, saying the US was not ready for it.

"We are trying to evolve a consensus and first the consensus will be with the supporting parties because that is primary importance for which the (UPA-Left) mechanism was created. Then we shall try to evolve a larger consensus," he said in an interview.

He said the government will have to discuss the India-IAEA safeguards agreement with the left but declined to elaborate.

CPM leader Prakash Karat had flashed off a letter demanding convening of the UPA-Left Committee meeting by March 15, 2008.

Karat's letter comes against the backdrop of reports that the text of the draft India-specific Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA is more or less ready.
 
Five rounds of intense negotiations later the IAEA in an official comment has said that both sides have made "considerable progress" in narrowing down differences on the India-specific safeguards.

Meanwhile, earlier reports have said, prime minister Manmohan Singh speech in Parliament is expected to form the basis of the Congress's next election manifesto.

Singh in his speech had said the Rs60,000 crore farm loan write-off was in a way paying pending bills of the previous NDA government at the centre.

The Congress seems mentally prepared itself for early elections. Though the Congress was inclined towards early polls last year, neither the allies nor the Congress's own MPs wanted one. Sonia Gandhi, too, was not prepared to snap ties with the Left.

But a debate has already started on why the Congress should continue "tolerating" the Left.