NEW DELHI: Aware of the on-going political drama over the nuclear deal in India, IAEA chief Mohammed El Baradei who flew into Mumbai late on Monday night is making sure he does not ruffle the sensitive feathers of the UPA’s Left supporters.
Baradei held talks on Tuesday with India’s atomic energy chief Anil Kakodkar in Mumbai. He arrives in the Capital on Wednesday where he will hold discussions with foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee. Foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon will host a dinner for El Baradei.
On Thursday, he will call on Prime Minster Manmohan Singh. The two are likely to meet over lunch, though the programme has not actually been tied up yet.
Non-proliferation and nuclear safeguards will figure prominently in the discussions, though no formal talks are on the cards. “We will discuss, in a general way, issues of non-proliferation. India and the IAEA already have a safeguard arrangement for Tarapur atomic power station and Rajasthan atomic power station. We will also be having one for Kurdumkulum power plants later,” a top Indian official from the foreign ministry said, but refused to be identified.
Much before the India-US nuclear agreement was signed, the Rajasthan and Tarapur power reactors were under IAEA safeguards.
“IAEA is ready for talks whenever India approaches me for the talks,” El baradei said in Mumbai on Tuesday after inaugurating an advanced computerised telecobalt machine ‘Bhabhatron-II’ for treatment of cancer in Mumbai. “The Indian government will have to take a decision,” he said, adding, “I will wait for them to come to Vienna to make a formal request.”
He is aware that the Left parties have asked the government not to go ahead with negotiations on a India specific agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which will bring the government one step closer to getting the nuclear agreement with India wrapped up.
Asked if he would have a fruitful discussion with the government in the light of present UPA-Left standoff over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, ElBaradei said, “I have always had fruitful discussions with the Indian government and it will be so in the future as well.”
Kakodkar later accompanied El Baradei to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
(BARC) at Anushakti Nagar on the outskirts of the city. The IAEA chief has supported the India-US nuclear deal, saying it would strengthen the international non-proliferation regime. He inspected BARC facility and had lunch with nuclear scientists.
In Delhi, while the government pushed the Left to allow negotiations with the IAEA to begin, officials pointed out that the India specific safeguards agreement may not take too long to work out. A standard agreement that IAEA signs is already in existence, the additional clauses need to be incorporated for the India specific safeguards. It may not take long, as three preliminary rounds have already been completed.
