Sonia backs Manmohan to hilt over nuke deal

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has come out in full support of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the Indo-US nuclear deal and has said that the agreement is in the long-term interest of the nation.

New Delhi, Sept 1 : Congress President Sonia Gandhi has come out in full support of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the Indo-US nuclear deal and has said that the agreement is in the long-term interest of the nation.

In an open letter in the journal Congress Sandesh, she wrote that the Prime Minister and his team have "brought home an agreement that is in the long term in the interest of India".

"We have negotiated with America keeping our national interests in the forefront and India's nuclear defence programme has been in no way undermined," she adds.

Rejecting the allegations that the Opposition parties that they were not taken into confidence, Sonia sates that the Congress-led UPA Government has done nothing in isolation and has kept the Left and the Opposition parties informed of every move.

Congratulating Manmohan Singh for putting in place, a treaty that "satisfies all the conditions" laid out before Parliament, Sonia writes: "This (deal) will allow India to expand its energy sector to meet the growing demands of our economic growth and put an end to the power shortages that we are all familiar with."

This is the first time that Sonia has publicly come out in full support of the Prime Minister over the nuclear deal that has been criticised by the Left parties and the opposition BJP for affecting India's sovereignty.

The Centre has constituted a high-level committee that would look into the concerns raised by the Left, particularly the implications of the US Hyde Act on the bilateral 123-agreement, that leads to the operationalisation of the nuclear deal.

ANI