Govt in damage control after letter 'leak'

A day after a letter by the US State Department on the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement was made public, the UPA government had to work hard to control the damage.

The letter, to a member of US Congress, said the US would stop fuel supplies and other nuclear cooperation with India if it conducted a nuclear test.

The first to issue a clarification was Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar, who was rushed to New Delhi on Wednesday, a day after the report came out. Kakodkar, in a two-paragraph statement, said that “although we knew about the existence of some correspondence between the US Congress and the administration, we had no knowledge about the contents of the correspondence.”

In fact, this became the line which was echoed by the government. Top sources said even the US Ambassador to India, David C Mulford, would be asked, after the fuss dies, as to why he claimed that India knew the content of the correspondence.

“Right now the NSG meeting is on and it is not an appropriate time to raise the issue,” said a source.

India’s ambassador to the US, Ronen Sen, has also been asked by the government to clarify the finer points of the correspondence as well as its context. “He has been asked to get in touch with the State Department and clarify the matter,” said a top source.

Meanwhile, the government ruled out calling an early session of Parliament as demanded by the opposition BJP and the Left parties. “It is the Cabinet which determines these dates. The opposition can move a privilege motion even when Parliament is not in session by just writing to the Speaker of the House,” said a senior minister.

Meanwhile CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said his party would urge President Pratibha Patil to bring forward the dates of the session.