WASHINGTON, April 1: Indian Foreign Minister Shayam Saran, who concluded a three-day visit to Washington this weekend, has said that the failure to get Congressional approval for the Indo-US nuclear deal would have an adverse affect on India’s relations with the United States.
“It is not as if everything will fall by the wayside, but because the deal has become a symbol, a negative outcome would mean a loss in terms of expectations,” Mr Saran told a news conference here.
Asked if there was any suggestion to amend some of the features of the nuclear deal to make it acceptable, Mr Saran said India did not support any changes in the accord signed in New Delhi on March 2. “I feel very encouraged that there will be much stronger support for the deal in its present form,” he said.
During his stay in Washington, Mr Saran discussed the strategy for seeking congressional approval for the nuclear accord with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, who negotiated the original deal.
A congressional approval is needed to implement the deal because it entails amending US laws that prohibit nuclear cooperation with countries like India that have not yet signed the non-proliferation treaty.
A vast majority of the lawmakers remains ‘undecided’ on whether to support the deal or not. Even Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, a bipartisan grouping of presumably pro-India lawmakers, has not come out strongly in favour of the deal.
