Congress dumps Left; PM to meet Bush at G-8 summit

04 July 2008

Mumbai: The Congress has rejected a deadline set by the Left parties to the UPA government to clarify its stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal and set a date for prime minster Manmohan Singh to meet US president George W Bush on the sidelines of the G8 summit.

Sovereign governments or political parties cannot be subjected to deadlines, Congress spokesman  Abhishek Singhvi said after the Left parties set a 7 July deadline for the government to clarify its position on approaching the IAEA for the nuclear 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.

He also thanked the Samajwadi Party for its offer of support. He also rejected suggestions that the Samajwadi Party and the Congress have never been mutually untouchable.

''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.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh will meet US president George W Bush on 9 July on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Hokkaido in Japan when he is expected to discuss the progress in the nuclear deal.