Congress may amend N-deal: Rice

Washington: The Bush Administration wants the US Congress to pass the Indo-US nuclear deal soon, but has said New Delhi must be prepared to accept "amendments" to the agreement.

These amendments will be within the "spirit" of the July 2005 accord signed between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conveyed this to a delegation of visiting Indian Parliamentarians during a 30-minute meeting at the state department here.

"She did not say basic (changes to the framework) but that India should be prepared for some amendments which will be within the framework...but it depends how Congress interprets," said Rajya Sabha MP Shahid Siddique, who was a part of the delegation.

Expressing the concern about the nature of amendments, the MP said it was generally recognized that time was of essence and that the civilian nuclear energy agreement should be formalised at the earliest.

"We are a bit worried about the amendments which are being suggested. It is not very clear as to what the amendments are going to be ... getting us into the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) through the backdoor is also of concern to us because it will not be acceptable to the Parliament in India, especially to the Left....," he said.

"Our concern is that if it does not go through now, then it will be difficult to get it through after summer recess... we feel that it should be done before the summer recess," Siddique said.

Siddique also said that Rice was optimistic that the administration will be able to deliver and that the timeframe was perhaps a couple of months.

Rice told the Indian MPs that it would be difficult in Congress unless members are clear about what is going to do with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"She (Rice) said it is going to be difficult for us... it has to be very obvious to what they are getting into. They feel that unless that is there (India's agreement with the IAEA) in place they won't be able to get the acceptance of the Congress," Siddique said.

On asked what transpired in the meeting between Rice and the visiting Parliamentary Delegation, a senior State Department official said," They discussed our strategic partnership--the US-India civil nuclear cooperation initiative, our economic and energy dialogue."