No May-deadline, Nuke ratification only by year-end: Senator

New Delhi, Apr 10 (UNI) Ruling out any May deadline for the ratification of the Indo-US nuclear deal, senior US Senator Chuck Hagel today said the agreement was expected to get the nod of the American Congress only by the end of the year.

''I hope this agreement would be ratified by the end of the year, subject to a number of factors which are not in my control,'' Mr Hagel, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations International Economic Policy, Export and Trade Promotion Subcommittee and the Senate Banking Securities and Investment Subcommittee, told reporters.

Mr Hagel, who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later in the evening, said the ''general mood is very positive'' in the US Congress and Senate. However, a number of questions had to be asked both in India and the US on the ''very important and big issue.'' Mr Hagel is one of the US politicians who are visiting India to assess the views of Indian leaders on the deal. US House Committee Speaker Dennis Hastert will arrive here tomorrow.

Making it clear that no strings, including India's support on the Iran issue, were attached to the passage of the deal, the Republican Senator said ''we are evaluating'' the deal in the light of its own dynamics. ''Iran is certainly not a condition for the passage.'' Expressing his personal support for the deal, which had given a ''new approach'' to the US foreign policy, he said, ''Based on my own assessment, I will support this agreement and will do so enthusiastically.'' Asked about if he had any major concerns, he said these were being addressed during his talks with US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns and other officials of the Bush administration.

''I am satisfied with the answers.'' To a question on a reported May deadline, he said, ''I never heard of that deadline.'' Asked about Pakistan's concerns that the nuke deal would upset the balance of power in the region, he said New Delhi's neighbours could rest assured that it was not aimed at ''isolating either Pakistan or China or any other country.'' Mr Hagel would leave for Pakistan tomorrow and later visit Afghanistan en route to Washington.

Earlier in the day, Mr Hagel, who arrived here last night, met Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, MoS for External Affairs Anand Sharma, BJP leader Jaswant Singh and Mr Jaishankar, Joint Secretary (Americas).

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