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Congress spokespersons to get lessons on n-deal

By IANS,

New Delhi : In a move to create public support for the controversial India-US civil nuclear deal, the ruling Congress will Wednesday organise a special orientation programme for its spokespersons across the country, in which senior ministers and top officials will explain the nuances of the agreement and its advantages.

National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan, prime minister’s special envoy on the nuclear deal Shyam Saran, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will explain the advantages of the nuclear deal at the day-long programme.

The star speaker would be Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who has said he was 100 percent with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the nuclear deal.

Mukherjee, who was the main interlocutor between the government and the Left parties on the nuclear deal, will explain the impact of the accord on the country.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left parties have withdrawn their four-year legislative support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government protesting its move to go ahead with the agreement with Washington.

Narayanan will speak on “Indian nuclear programme: achievements, capabilities and requirements; 123 agreement and IAEA safeguards” at the programme that will be attended by around 130 party leaders from various states.

Eminent energy expert Kirit Parikh will also address the delegates.

Apart from the talks on the nuclear deal, Chidambaram will deliver a speech on the economic development brought in by the Congress-led government.

Congress general secretaries M. Veerappa Moily and Digvijay Singh also will address the gathering.

On Tuesday, addressing a meeting of the Congress Sewa Dal, the voluntary service wing of the Congress, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal outlined advantages of the civil nuclear energy cooperation deal to party workers.