Cong backs PM, says N-deal need of the hour

New Delhi: The Congress has come out strongly in support of the Indo-US Nuclear Deal and publicly backed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.

"Nuclear deal is need of the hour. We need to go to IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). Nuclear deal is good for our country as our power plants and installations are working less than 50 per cent of their capacity. We need energy. If we want adequate power supply, if we want 9-10 per cent GDP growth and if we want to protect environment, the deal is necessary. PM has done the correct thing, " a Congress statement said.

The statement goes on to say that Left's objections to the deal are ideological rather than rational.

On Friday the Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat blamed the Prime Minister for the political crisis in the country over the nuclear deal.

In a strongly worded article in CPI-M's mouthpiece Peoples Democracy Karat wrote, "As the time for the ninth meeting of the UPA-Left Committee on the nuclear deal approached, the country was plunged into a political crisis once again on the future of the nuclear deal. What is the cause for this ongoing crisis? The answer lies squarely in the Prime Minister's renewed bid to go to the IAEA for seeking the approval of the Board of Governors on the text of the Safeguards Agreement."

On Wednesday, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and Left had failed to reach a compromise on nuclear deal, following the meeting of the 15-member UPA-Left Nuclear Coordination Committee meeting at the residence of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

With the logjam over the nuclear deal continuing, speculations about an early General Election have also started.