(Repeating DF 14 correcting matter in first para)

Washington, Nov 17 (UNI) The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government got a shot in the arm when the US Senate last night approved by an overwhelming 85-12 vote the landmark Indo-US civilian nuclear deal aimed at giving India access to civilian nuclear technology to meet its growing energy needs.

The final vote came after a day-long discussion during which most of the members, both Democrats and Republicans, lent strong support to the deal which was announced during President George W Bush's visit to New Delhi in March this year.

Political observers here consider it as a personal victory for the President, who has made congressional passage of the measure as one of his top foreign policy objectives after his Republican Party's electoral defeat in which it lost control of both the Houses of Congress for the first time in 12 years.

The agreement, reached in principle between President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2005, seeks to establish a New Delhi-specific exception to a US law that bans nuclear trade with countries like India that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Mr Bush welcomed the passage of the relevant bill ''It will further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries,'' he said in a written statement issued by the White House.

''The measure would deliver energy, non-proliferation and trade benefits to the citizens of two great democracies,''the statement said.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said India will not accept anything in the Indo-US Nuclear deal which is outside the July 18 agreement.

Ms Gandhi told reporters in New Delhi that the position of the Congress and that of the UPA was that all those areas, which are not acceptable, should not be included.

''We welcome it. The government will study and formulate a response,'' she added.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee welcomed the passage of the Bill but reserved ''conclusions'' till the final version of the US law on the issue is enacted some time next month.

''We must await the final version before drawing any conclusions on the legislation,'' Mr Mukherjee said in a statement.

US Ambassador to India David Mulford described the passage of the Indo-US nuclear deal as a ''very positive development'', and assured India that the Bill would soon become a law with the issues causing sensitivities in India resolved.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Mulford said: ''It is a historic day in the long relations between India and the US....Perhaps the best day ever.... We can now move forward with a great deal of optimism.'' With the Senate action, the US Congress has endorsed the deal, a pre-requisite for its enforcement, as the House of Representatives had given its approval July last year.

However, before President Bush signs ... picking up from para eight, line one of DF8, NUCLEAR-US-SECOND LEAD INDIA.

UNI XC RP AT RK1715