Lucknow: Samajwadi Party, whose role could be crucial in a trial of strength in the Lok Sabha in case Left parties withdraw support to the UPA government at the Centre, on Monday kept its cards close to the chest on its stand saying a meeting of the UNPA will be convened soon to discuss the nuclear deal issue. "We are in touch with leaders of UNPA allies and a date will be fixed soon according to the convenience of all including SP general secretary Amar Singh who is currently on a foreign tour,' SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters here.

Bhaskar Roy Facing the prospect of the UPA government's sudden collapse as a consequence of inking the India-US nuclear deal, the allies on Monday brought pressure on the Congress leadership to prevent such a fallout and pointed to more urgent issues like prices and oil market volatility.

Canberra: India on Monday said its commitment to nonproliferation is "second to none' and the issue of procuring uranium from Australia will come up once it firms up an international arrangement for nuclear commerce. External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, who met his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith here, also said it was "too early' to refer to the issue of uranium sale as political discussions back home on implementing the Indo-US nuclear deal were still on.

They Are Willing To Assure Left That Govt Won't Operationalize Deal Desperate to stave off polls amid double-digit inflation and with a reinvigorated BJP as their rival, Congress's UPA partners are willing to assure the Left that they would not let the government take steps to operationalize the nuclear deal if it was allowed to seal the safeguards agreement with International Atomic Energy Agency.

Priscilla Jebaraj and Suresh Nambath India's energy security policy needs to go beyond the imported nuclear power that will be facilitated by the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said on Sunday. Instead, the country's policy must focus on indigenous measures and energy accessed by following an independent foreign policy.

Canberra: India has said it will raise the issue of uranium sale with Australia as external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived here on Sunday to carry forward the momentum in bilateral ties and ink two key treaties on extradition and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. "We are going to discuss all the issues of our expanding cooperation. We are going to review the uranium

CPI general secretary A B Bardhan on Sunday said that the UPA government shouldn't be sacrificed for the sake of the India-US civilian nuclear deal and the Manmohan Singh dispensation should focus on controlling inflation instead of trying to rush the deal. Bardhan, who was in Bhubaneswar to address a convention opposing the establishment of Posco project, didn't state as to whether the Left parties would withdraw support from the Congressled Central government if the latter signed the deal with the US.

UPA Buys Time, Pranab Wants Left To Defer Pullout Indrani Bagchi | TNN July and September are emerging as key months in the nuclear-deal calendar that has been worked out between foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and key officials. India is likely to start lobbying in earnest with the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for an exemption from July. The prime minister wants to kick off the effort at the G8 summit itself. That will be a formal opening of negotiations on the NSG.

Caught between the tough lines they have pursued on the nuclear deal, both Congress and Left have now turned to allies to mediate to save the coalition from a seemingly irreconciliable situation.

Sumantra Das What are the positions of Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama and his Republican counterpart John McCain on the Indo-US nuclear deal, outsourcing, climate change and other issues that could affect India? As of now, here's where they stand. Indo-US nuclear deal / 123 agreement