UPA govt to face vote of confidence on July 22

As the UPA government is going ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi today suggested that the party should campaign about the nuclear deal among the public with confidence.

Participating in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held here to discuss the current scenario, the young Gandhi, throwing his weight behind the deal, today said that since the party thought that the deal is in the national interest and the government had gone so far, "we should approach the public with self-confidence".

While all members of the CWC fully supported the deal, some pointed out there was confusion created by the Opposition and a section of the media about the benefits of the deal. Briefing the press, Veerappa Moily and Janardan Dwivedi said party President Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee analysed the situation and the reason why the Centre had to join hands with the Samajwadi Party at the cost of the Left's support. The PM spoke about fulfilling all other promises of the government during the coming days.

Earlier in the morning, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi held a meeting of the coalition but kept all bitterness against the Left at bay. She said that she regretted the parting of ways with the Left and thanked them for their support over the last four years. This suggests that the Congress is keeping the door open for revival of this relationship.