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Washington: The next US president, be it a Republican or a Democrat, is unlikely to flag down the India-US nuclear deal if it remains in a limbo during the watch of President George W. Bush.
A senior US official who has worked under the Bush administration and also its Democratic precursor has tried to dispel doubts about how the deal would possibly play out under Republican John McCain or a Democratic incumbent in Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.
Richard Boucher, the US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, when confronted with the question at a briefing on Wednesday, said he did not foresee political roadblocks to the deal since it enjoyed strong bipartisan support as was evident from the overwhelming vote for the Hyde Act, the enabling US law.
All the three presidential candidates in the fray had voiced "strong support" for the US-India relationship and had not skirted the issue of nuclear cooperation, Boucher said.
New steps
A change of guard would, however, necessitate certain new steps, he said, noting that the election imposed a certain calendar on the ratification process.
"Every day that goes by makes it harder," he said citing Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairperson Joe Biden's statement in New Delhi that, unless the US Congress got the deal by June, it would be difficult to get it approved by July.
"We fully support it," Boucher said, adding quickly: "we respect the democratic process" (in India).
The nuclear deal has been stalled due to strident opposition from Left-leaning allies of the government.
New Delhi has to also complete the process of securing an India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and get the approval of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) before the nuclear deal can be put before the US Congress for its final approval.
No inconsistency
Asked to comment on Congress party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi's assertion that India was bound by only the bilateral 123 agreement and not the contentious Hyde Act, Boucher said he saw no inconsistency between the implementation of the 123 agreement and the Hyde Act, pointing out that the enabling US law gave the Bush administration the authority "to negotiate the 123 agreement - the deal that binds India and the US". Singhvi, who was here to tell the American government and the foreign policy establishment why the deal has been put on the backburner, reiterated that India was bound by only the 123 agreement and not the prescriptive provisions of the Hyde Act, including those relating to India's relations with Iran.
Bush declaration
The US president too had made an explicit declaration that provisions relating to a congruent foreign policy, dealing with Iran, sending troops to Iraq or non-proliferation were non-binding to the deal.
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