Illustration courtesy: Ajit Ninan (TOI) NEW DELHI: Having left the nuclear deal almost until the eleventh hour, India and its international allies are trying to scrounge for ways to save the nuclear deal

NEW DELHI: As the standoff over the Indo-US nuclear deal between the Left parties and the government continued, RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi here. Prasad refused to talk to journalists waiting outside Gandhi's residence after the short meeting. The meeting came in the backdrop of reports that the Railway Minister was in touch with the Samajwadi Party for backing the UPA in case the Left parties withdrew support to the government in the event of forward movement on the nuclear deal.

N-Deal CPM asks UPA partners to stop Govt; Mulayam tells party to get ready for polls, Advani says will press for trust vote on deal NEW DELHI, JUNE 29: Battle lines were formally drawn today over the Indo-US nuclear deal standoff with CPM general secretary Prakash Karat announcing that the Left would withdraw support to the Government if it went ahead with the deal.

Deal And Govt Will Survive: Lalu A day after Sonia Gandhi asked the Congress to get ready for elections, CPM announced that it would withdraw support to the UPA government if it took the

P. S. Suryanarayana SINGAPORE: The U.S. on Saturday urged North Korea to "abandon' all its nuclear weapons in a culmination of the process set on course by Friday's demolition of the cooling tower at the Yongbyon complex. The U.S.' call acquires unusual importance because of Japan's comment that the elimination of North Korea's existing stockpile of nuclear weapons is the real issue to address rather than just the dramatic destruction of a cooling tower.

P. S. Suryanarayana The 25-metre cooling tower was built in 1986 Blast for peace: The cooling tower of the nuclear complex being demolished in Yongbyon on Friday. SINGAPORE: The cooling tower at the Yongbyon complex, suspected to be the nerve centre of North Korea's plutonium-based nuclear weapons programme, was on Friday brought down in a controlled dynamite blast. With that televised "implosion,' North Korea demolished one of its "icons' of nuclear empowerment to make a political statement of disarmament.

US PRESIDENT George W Bush, who has been waiting patiently for progress on the Indo-US deal, is making sure that his administration sends out daily reminders to the UPA government on how time is running out for the deal.

P.S. Suryanarayana "Willing to consider, if and when needed, India's nuclear accord with the U.S.'

Sources have claimed that Sonia fully appreciated the concern of allies, there was no mistaking that the tough anti-early-polls position suits Congress. It is in no better shape to face an election and would not like to risk that for the nuclear deal, but is hamstrung to admit so for the fear of contradicting the PM in public.

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.