Having lost the shackles of its communist allies that stymied years of economic reforms, India's government finally has political space to push for change.Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's agenda in Japan includes several meetings with world leaders, on the sidelines of the G-8 summit.The most crucial will be a meeting with President Bush, Wednesday, where he is expected to convey his intention to take the final steps to seal a civilian nuclear deal signed between the two countries.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday announced that India will "very soon" approach the IAEA for a safeguards agreement for the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal where the "process will move very fast". A relaxed and confident Singh made it clear that Government was not afraid of facing Parliament if the Left parties withdraw support.
Mr Singh appears to have secured a deal with the regional Samajwadi Party to replace the Communists. The leftists have opposed the deal saying it would give the US undue influence over India's foreign policy.
India is under pressure from Washington to sign the deal before the US presidential elections in November. Mr Singh has argued the pact is crucial for India's energy security and reports suggest that his Congress Party-led coalition would go ahead with the deal.
Back home,the Left parties are all set to withdraw its support to the UPA government on July 10 even while the government has appealed to them to attend the last meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal on the same date.
