Nuke deal with US:India sure of Congress approval in 2 months

New Delhi, Jun 23 (UNI) India today expressed confidence that the landmark India-US nuclear deal, reached between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George Bush will get the Congressional approval within the next two months.

''Based on my wide-ranging interactions in the US with eminent representatives of the American political intellectual and corporate establishment, my personal belief is that the India-US nuclear will get through in the Congress in the next 45 to 60 days,'' Minister of State for Industry Ashwani Kumar said here today, after returning from his US tour.

The initial motion has been flagged in the Congress which is due for a recess in the near future. The nuclear deal, considered as the centrepiece of the India-US strategic relations, is set to get through once the Congress resumes after the recess, the minister said.

Mr Kumar had exchanged views with former National Security Adviser in the Clinton Administration Sandy Berger and had interactions at the CSIS, a Washington-based think tank with its President John Hamre and Ambassador Teresita Schaffer. ''The CSIS establishment was generally supportive of the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal,'' Mr Kumar said.

In his various meetings, including the one with the CEOs of the petrochemical companies, Mr Kumar emphasised the importance of Indo-US nuclear agreement and described it as a ''critical factor in cementing the new paradigm in the relationship between the two countries''. He spoke with Congressmen Joseph Crowley and Jess Jackson.

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