New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil has invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a meeting on Thursday to "have his views" on the Left parties' withdrawal of support to the government.
In a press release on Wednesday evening, Rashtrapati Bhavan noted that the four Left parties had earlier in the day communicated their decision to withdraw support and the Samajwadi Party had then expressed its backing to the government.
"Keeping in mind these political developments, the President has requested the prime minister to meet her tomorrow to have his views on these developments," it said.
A few hours after the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s invitation, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that the draft India-specific nuclear safeguards had been circulated to its Board of Governors for approval following a "request" from the Indian government.
The safeguards pact, which is the next step in the operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, was sent to the 35-nation Board on a day when the Left parties formally withdrew support from the UPA government following a bitter feud over the deal which has remained stalled for several months.
Through the safeguards agreement, the IAEA would be able to inspect additional power reactors in India, as New Delhi pledged to separate its military and civilian nuclear programmes under its pact with the US.
"At the request of the Government of India, the IAEA Secretariat today circulated to members of the IAEA board of governors for their consideration the draft of an 'Agreement with the Government of India for the Application of Safeguards to Civilian Nuclear Facilities'," IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said in a press statement issued at the Agency headquarters in Vienna.
Fleming said the Board Chairman will consult members to fix a date to discuss the draft amid reports that a special governors meeting will be convened in Vienna on July 28 to discuss the safeguards text.
"The chairman of the board is consulting with board members to agree on a date for a board meeting when the agreement would be considered," she said. The move significantly comes in the backdrop of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee saying that India will approach the IAEA only after seeking a trust vote.
The draft text was finalised between a technical committee of the IAEA and a team of Indian experts including Atomic Energy Commission chief Dr Anil Kakodkar after several rounds of parleys.
Facing stiff deadlines, India needs the approval of IAEA governors, then the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, where there are some reservations because India is outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and finally ratification by the US.
Describing the circulation of the draft as a "turning point" Fleming said the Board Chairman will have to consult each of the 35 governors before fixing a date for approving the 30-page draft.
"It is quite possible that the Board may meet in the last week of July," she said. The Spokesperson said since the Governors may need "considerable time" to study the draft the meeting could be also "delayed."
The Left parties said Government's move to get the draft nuclear safeguards pact circulated to IAEA Board of Governors was "expected", particularly after the Prime Minister's remarks that the nuclear watchdog will be approached "very soon".
The Left and the BJP expressed surprise how the draft was circulated when External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that the government will approach the IAEA in the next step to operationalise the deal only after winning a trust vote.
But the Congress saw no contradiction between government moving ahead on the deal and Mukhjeree's remarks on timing of the next move.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwary said there was no contradiction between what the External Affairs Minister had said and the circulation of the draft at the IAEA.
(With inputs from IANS and PTI)
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