By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : Visiting Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Wednesday amid hectic US efforts to win quick Congressional approval for the India-US nuclear deal.
Rice is leading the Bush administration’s drive to woo the lawmakers in “a full court press” to present the implementing 123 agreement to the Congress either Wednesday or Thursday to clear the last hurdle in its way.
Antony, who is making the first high-level visit from India since the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) gave New Delhi a waiver for nuclear trade, Tuesday met his US counterpart Robert Gates and discussed ways to deepen the bilateral security cooperation.
He rounds off the four-day visit after meetings President George W. Bush’s National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley Wednesday afternoon.
Antony is leading a high-powered delegation including Defence Secretary Vijay Singh and three senior officers from the army, navy and air force.
The last time an Indian defence minister visited the US was in June 2005 when Pranab Mukherjee held the portfolio.
Meanwhile, Rice has been working the phone and meeting key lawmakers to win congressional approval for the accord before President Bush leaves office Jan 20.
She went to Capitol Hill Tuesday to call on House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman to discuss how to move it forward.
Media reports quoted a spokesman for Pelosi as saying she and Rice discussed the process for considering the agreement once it is submitted.
“The speaker looks forward to reviewing the submission in detail and consulting with Chairman Berman and members of the leadership in determining the appropriate course of action,” spokesman Nadeam Elshami was quoted as saying.
With Democrats, who are not too keen to let Bush score a major foreign policy at the fag end of his term, in control of both houses Pelosi and Berman have emerged as key players in efforts to push the approval process on the fast track.
Howard Berman supports the nuclear deal, but has reservations about the NSG waiver for India and Pelosi is not keen on extending the current session of the Congress scheduled to end Sep 26 or calling a lame-duck session after the Nov 4 elections.
Rice called on Berman after he declined to waive the rules for quick approval of the India deal unless he was convinced by the administration that the exemption given by the NSG is consistent with the Hyde Act passed by Congress in 2006.
“The burden of proof is on the Bush administration so that Congress can be assured that what we’re being asked to approve conforms with US law,” Berman said Sunday, a day after the NSG waiver was announced.
The Hyde Act and the US Atomic Energy Act require the nuclear deal package to sit on the Capitol Hill for 30 continuous legislative days before Congress takes it up for approval in an ‘up or down’ or a yes or no vote.
Congress needs to waive the 30-day requirement in order to get approval for the deal before it adjourns or hold a lame-duck session after the election.
The Bush administration and the Indian government are banking on the massive bipartisan support the agreement got when it was first introduced in Congress, with more than 85 percent of lawmakers supporting it.