India-Nuke Deal-PM
Despite the hectic political discussions on Indo-US civilian nuclear dela is on in New Delhi, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet US President George W Bush on July nine on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Japan.

Singh is expected to discuss the progress in the nuclear deal after sorting out domestic political problems over the agreement.

Foreign Secretary, Shivshankar Menon, while briefing reporters here on Friday, on the Prime Minister's three-day visit, however did not give details of what they would discuss but said the government would like to go ahead with the deal as soon as we can. But it was not possible to give a time frame for it.

"We will go ahead with it as soon as we can. Once we take a decision to approach the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), we will let you know, he said adding the US was committed to getting India exemption from the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) for nuclear commerce under the July 2005 civil nuclear cooperation agreement.

Menon said India was in touch with members of the NSG and it would proceed on the deal as soon as we can. Many of the world leaders who would be attending the G-8 summit are also members of the NSG, he added.

Meanwhile, the Left Parties have set a deadline till Monday to know exactly whether the government is going ahead with the Indo-US Civil Nuclear deal.

The General Secretary of the CPI(M), Prakash Karat said that a letter has been written to the External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee in the wake of various pronouncements by the UPA leaders and the Union Ministers that the government will go ahead with the new deal.

He was briefing the media in New Delhi, after a meeting of the four left parties, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (CPI), Rashtriya Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc (FB) this morning.

Karat said the Left Parties will also launch a nation wide campaign from 14th of July to explain to the people their stand on the deal.

In another development Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh on Friday made it clear that they favoured the Indo-US nuclear deal as they met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi over the issue.

After their 30-minute meeting with the Prime Minister, Yadav and Amar Singh appeared convinced that the nuclear deal is in the interest of the country and said they would try to convince other UNPA constituents on the issue.

The party, whose 39 MPs in Lok Sabha would be crucial for survival of the government if Left parties withdraw support, are likely to announce its decision on supporting the UPA in a couple of days.

The SP leaders said former President A P J Abdul Kalam had on Thursday elaborately explained to them the benefits of the deal and allayed fears about the national sovereignty or foreign policy being compromised.

"We have been opposing it (nuclear deal) as we did not have any new details. But now these new details have come," Yadav told reporters.

Sounding convinced that the deal is in national interest, both Yadav and Amar Singh said "national interest was a priority to them rather than politics".

They, however, insisted that they had given no commitment to the Prime Minister about extending support as they will have to consult other UNPA leaders.