PM won't go to Crawford, Sarkozy is chief guest at Republic Day

JYOTI MALHOTRA

New Delhi, August 24, 2007 : In the hullabaloo over the Indo-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has quietly decided to call off his visit to US President George Bush’s Crawford ranch in Texas.

But in a clear sign that he is not backing down in the face of the Left challenge demanding Delhi not get into a strategic alliance with America, the PM has decided to widen the ambit of the current debate, by inviting other nuclear powers like France to intensify its engagement with India.

It is now confirmed that French president Nicholas Sarkozy will be the chief guest at India’s 58th Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2008.

Sarkozy’s France is the world’s largest consumer of nuclear energy and French companies have been deliriously eyeing India’s nuclear energy market.

In fact, the 123 nuclear agreement between India and the US names France as one of three countries (the others are Russia and the UK) that will step into the vacuum to continue uninterrupted fuel supply for India, in case nuclear cooperation with the US ceases.

As for cancelling the Crawford ranch visit to meet Bush, the man the Left loves to hate, clearly, the PM did not want to exacerbate the political crisis with the parties that support his government in power.

Highly placed sources said the Crawford visit was to have taken place this weekend, that is August 24-26, since Bush spends most of August at home on the ranch. But what with the political crisis engulfing his government, the PM probably thought cancellation, at least for the time being, was a small price to pay.

Moreover, the monsoon session of Parliament was originally scheduled to also end today. But now that it ends on September 14, the PM could not possibly leave the country in the middle.

The government sources insisted the PM was ``in no mood to back down’’ in the face of the Left challenge that Delhi not take the next steps over the nuclear deal, that is not have an India-specific meeting at the IAEA.

The PM firmly believes that India’s growing international reputation is at stake if a deliberate decision is taken to go-slow on the nuclear deal.

In fact, MEA sources pointed out that preliminary talks with the IAEA on an India-specific safeguards agreement have been underway for many months now, and have been taking place alongside the 123 negotiations.

The sources said a go-slow at this stage would have a terrible impact on taking the nuclear deal to its logical conclusion. That naysayers like China, Ireland and Nordic states like Sweden and Norway, all members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, could point to the crippling domestic debate and ask if India could still be trusted.

Under the circumstances, a ``safe deadline’’ to go to the IAEA would have to be by the end of October, a month later for the Nuclear Suppliers Group and after that to the US Congress for a yes-no vote.

However, if the domestic crisis plays out longer than expected, sources said the deadline for the US Congress to pass its vote could be stretched to March-April 2008.

``If the US Congress doesn’t pass the deal by then, it is as good as dead,’’ the sources said.

After April, the US election will definitely get into full swing, and it may be difficult to get the attention of distracted US lawmakers.

ENDS