New Delhi, July 23
Foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon today briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 123 agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation with the USA.
Menon told the Prime Minister about his intensive negotiations with under secretary of state Nicholas Burns in Washington from July 16 to 19, after which the two sides agreed on a 30-page text of the agreement.
It is understood that the Prime Minister would be calling a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security later this week to have a thorough discussion on the agreed text of the 123 agreement.
The government will also be working out the floor strategy to face the Opposition’s onslaught on the nuclear deal in the monsoon session of Parliament to be held from August 10 to September 14. The focal point of the strategy would be the Left parties. The government effort will be to ensure that the Left parties, during a discussion on the nuclear deal in Parliament, do not cross the red line.
The BJP-led Opposition has time and again voiced its criticism of the nuclear deal and wants that the government should place the text of the 123 agreement before Parliament for ratification.
The UPA government is determined to foil the Opposition’s plans and is unlikely to succumb to demands for parliamentary ratification of the 123 agreement.
