NEW DELHI, Oct 6 (APP): UN atomic energy chief Mohamed ElBaradei arrives in New Delhi next week for talks with Indian leadership on safeguards of the Indo-US nuclear deal, amid deep differences between ruling coalition UPA and Left parties over the contentious issue.
A news report quoting an official said the trip beginning on Monday, would enable ElBaradei to visit nuclear facilities near the western financial hub of Mumbai and talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Indian capital.
ElBaradei’s visit may provide further heat to the ongoing bitter standoff between Left front and Congress led UPA government.
On Friday, the government and its communist allies failed to make any progress at a meeting of a panel set up to resolve the deadlock, extending a crisis that has sparked talk of elections more than a year ahead of schedule.
One of objections Left parties have been raising is the fear that the deal would give the United States too much influence over New Delhi’s foreign policy and curb its weapons programme.
“If they proceed with the deal, we have made it clear that we will no longer support the government,” senior Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters.
The row has left the prime minister facing his biggest political test since taking power in 2004.
The Left has threatened to withdraw support from the government if it takes steps to “operationalise the deal” that would include starting talks on a special pact with ElBaradei’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Officials say New Delhi must clinch the IAEA pact by early November to meet a deadline to get the deal approved by the US Congress before it gets caught up in the 2008 US presidential race.
If implemented, the deal will allow energy-hungry India to buy civilian nuclear technology while possessing nuclear weapons despite not having signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
India’s Foreign Ministry did not comment on the visit or on mounting speculation that Singh would discuss the nuclear deal with ElBaradei.