January 05, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 14, 1427

NEW DELHI, Jan 4: India's main communist party, which shores up the federal coalition, said on Thursday it would launch a campaign against a controversial nuclear deal with the United States, saying it was not in the country's interests.

Legislation approved by the US Congress last month backing the landmark deal had objectionable clauses and coerced India to align its foreign policy with that of the United States, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) said.

“The actual terms set out in the legislation does not offer 'full civilian nuclear cooperation',” the party said in a statement after its central committee met in the eastern city of Kolkata.

The party, whose support is crucial to the survival of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition, urged the government not to proceed with the deal until all its “extraneous terms and foreign policy implications” were cleared.

“The Central Committee calls upon the party to launch a campaign against the dangers inherent in the Indo-US nuclear agreement,” it said, without elaborating on the campaign.

President George W. Bush last month signed into law the bill approved by Congress, a major step towards allowing India to buy US nuclear reactors and fuel for the first time in 30 years.

But it still must be approved by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and again by the US Congress before nuclear trade can start.

The US Congress attached several conditions to the law which have not gone down well with New Delhi.—Reuters