India leaders save U.S. nuclear deal

NEW DELHI – After months of political uncertainty, the Indian government appeared Friday to have saved a beleaguered civil nuclear-energy agreement with the United States. After a flurry of political meetings with allies and adversaries in the past week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gained the support of a regional political party that will not only back the deal but prevent his government from falling.

On Friday, Shakeel Ahmed, spokesman for the ruling Congress Party, thanked its newfound ally, the socialist Samajwadi Party, “for supporting the nuclear deal in the national interest.” Singh is to meet President Bush in Japan next week during a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

The deal had been attacked by Singh’s coalition allies, a group of four communist parties, on grounds it would give the United States too much influence over India’s nuclear programs and violate national sovereignty. They threatened to withdraw their support from Singh’s government. Now Singh appears to have averted the possibility of an early election this year amid inflation that hit 11.6 percent this week, a 13-year high.

The contentious deal seeks to end 30 years of nuclear isolation, give India access to nuclear fuel and technology, and address the nation’s severe power shortage.

“We have been opposing the nuclear deal before because we did not have any new details,” said Mulayam Singh Yadav, leader of the Samajwadi Party, which has a strong base among lower-caste and Muslim Indians. “But now these new details have come.”

Singh now faces talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group. The U.S. Congress then will vote on the deal.