Left parties withdraw support to UPA Government; UPA to seek trust vote on July 21-22; India-IAEA safeguards agreement released; IAEA Board to consider India safeguards on August 1, 2008; Obama not to seek any changes in nuclear agreement with India
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    • The Left parties withdrew their support to the UPA government on the issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal. The disagreements between the two sides had been growing over the past couple of weeks with the Manmohan Singh government wanting to go ahead with the deal and the Left consistently opposing any move forward.

    The government meanwhile released the safeguards agreement and sent it to the IAEA Board for approval. The move was attacked by the Left parties which portrayed it as a betrayal of the government’s moral commitment that it would seek a trust vote before going ahead with the deal1. The IAEA Board of Governors was expected to meet on August 1, 2008 to consider the India-specific safeguards agreement2.

    In other developments, Barack Obama, the US Democratic presidential candidate stated that he would not seek changes in the Indo-US nuclear deal and hoped that it would be finalised by the end of the year. Sen. Obama noted that the existing agreement “effectively balanced a range of important issues from our strategic relationship with India to our non-proliferation concerns to India's energy needs3.”

    The US administration on its part has also asserted that it would do everything in its power to expedite the deal through the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, with time running out due to the US elections in November. Gregory Schulte, US envoy to the IAEA praised “India's willingness to move forward with this historic initiative, which is part of the strategic partnership envisioned by President (George W.) Bush and Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh.”

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