India N-chants Vienna, next stop Washington

TO US, NOW: The deal needs the express sanction of the US Congress as a capping lid on a deal nearly done

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New Delhi: With the nod from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the next leg for the Indo-US nuclear deal is in Washington. Now the deal must get a clearance from the US Congress, which is most likely to be in session beginning on September 8.

India is hoping for a smoother ride at the Congress than it had at the NSG meeting in Vienna.

The US Democrat vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden supports the deal and so does the chairman of US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senator, Richard Lugar.

With 'friends of India' pushing for a quick ratification at the US Congress, India hopes to have a smooth ride.

However, experts haven't ruled out hiccups in the form of opposition from non-proliferation hawks inside the US.

The September session of Congress is just an 18-day-long affair, falling far short of the 30 days required by the constitution to schedule, debate and vote on bills.

If the 123 agreement is not cleared in the September session, then the US Congress may hold a lame-duck session only after the November elections.

American Congressmen Democrat Howard L Berman, who oppose the bill, could spring up unpleasant surprises for India.

Berman, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is the man behind the leak of the 'secret letter' that caused much furore in India.

But the US Congress won't have much to object since the deal already has received the NSG sanction.

India is particularly hopeful that the support of Democrat Senator Joe Biden will have a major impact on the Democrat party.

The Democrats have strong non-proliferation links and are the dominant force in the current Congress.

Once the deal is allowed to operationalise after the US Congress' vote, was procuring fuel for the reactors whose capacities are underutilised

But time is drawing near for the US lawmakers to consider the deal.

The US Congress has only a few weeks of work in September before it is scheduled to break for the rest of the year to campaign for November elections.