THE US will supplement efforts by India to convince the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors to give its approval for the India-specific safeguards agreement. Undersecretary of state for political affairs William Burns is traveling to Vienna to help India in its bid to explain the salient points of the safeguards agreement to IAEA board members and a number of Nuclear Suppliers Groups countries, which are not part of the IAEA board.

Draft reflects PM's pledges to Parliament by Arundhati Ghose With the draft safeguards agreement now with the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agnecy (IAEA), freed from the coils of the domestic politicking of poor losers and even more poorly advised opposition parties, there is a need to stand back and examine not just what the draft contains, but also the possible international reactions to the first multilateral exposure of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Moga, July 16 General secretary of the PPCC and former minister Malti Thapar has appealed to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to extend his party's support to the Manmohan Singh government on the nuclear deal. In a letter written to Badal today, she said, "No doubt that your association with the BJP is unquestionable, but SAD's or BJP's interests should not be larger than national interests'.

Days ahead of the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, India will brief the 35 nations who are part of the board as well as the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) countries in a joint session.

Deal Says if Govt falls acting in national interest, so be it JAYAS (AMETHI): Praising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's "vision, tenacity and leadership' on the Indo-US nuclear deal, AICC general secretary and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi today said the deal was worth the risk and "desh hit mein sarkar gir jaye to gir jaye (if the government falls while acting in national interest, so be it)'. He, however, expressed confidence that the government would win the trust vote in Parliament on July 22.

CPI (M) Politburo member and Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said it is up to the Speaker to decide on his resignation. "The Speaker's office should not be sucked into controversies," he said. Two more pro-UPA jailed MPs

Meeting For IAEA Board Members & Some In NSG Only IN A last-minute change of plan, India has decided to reduce the number of countries it will brief on the IAEA-India specific safeguards agreement and keep the IAEA secretariat out of the picture for the July 18 meeting.

Amidst the din of charges and counter-charges of horse-trading, Samajwadi Party on Tuesday took the issue to the Speaker's court, alleging that its MPs were being coerced into voting against the UPA government. SP leader in Lok Sabha Ramgopal Yadav and party general secretary Amar Singh met Speaker Somnath Chatterjee with a letter from its MP Akshay Pratap Singh who has claimed that he was being threatened with Pota if he voted for UPA.

Despite recent verbal duels over politics of vendetta, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh wants Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patron Parkash Singh Badal to show statesmanship on the July 22 motion of confidence in the Lok Sabha as he and his party did in passing the rivers waters agreements annulment Act some years ago.

Somnath Chatterjee has refused to quit, rebuffing CPM boss Prakash Karat, who wants him to resign as Speaker of Lok Sabha before July 22 so that Chatterjee can vote against the government in the floor test. Chatterjee, whom the party expected to step down, refused to yield, telling Sitaram Yechury that he would choose the timing of when to quit.