Efforts are still on to wrap up the Indo-US nuclear deal

NEW DELHI: The UPA government will go ahead with its plans to get the India-US civil nuclear deal off the ground, despite the Left parties calling for a halt to negotiations with both the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Anil Kakodkar, chief of India's atomic energy commission as well as secretary to the department of atomic energy, will be in Vienna next month to attend the IAEA general conference.

Kakodkar was part of the team led by National Security Advisor MK Narayanan, which negotiated the final draft of the 123 agreement in Washington. When he is in Vienna for the general conference from September, he will take the opportunity to discuss India-specific safeguards on the sidelines of the conference, sources said.

There is talk of Shyam Saran, the Prime Minister's special envoy going for the October Nuclear Supplier’s Group (NSG) meeting, to be at hand if member states need clarification on the agreement.

Despite the threat to bring down the Manmohan Singh government, South Block is unfazed and is minutely following the steps necessary to get the nuclear deal operational. The final step will be a vote for the agreement in the US Congress. Realising the urgency of getting the NSG clearance before the US Congress gets into election mode, the government has already sent Shyam Saran to a four-nation tour.