The nuclear deal and the progress made by India and the U.S. in negotiations were discussed in detail when President Barack Obama met the former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and the Congress leadership on Monday.
At the hour-long meeting, in which Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and senior leader Anand Sharma were present, they discussed the “breakthrough” announced by Mr. Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
“It was underscored by Mr. Obama that it was the UPA government under Dr. Manmohan Singh that had scripted the nuclear deal, taking an enormous risk at that time,” Mr. Sharma told The Hindu after the meeting.
The Congress has criticised the government for not taking the Opposition on board before clearing the hurdles over supplier liability and other issues with the operationalisation of the civilian nuclear deal signed in 2008.
Remaining non-committal on whether the Congress would oppose the government’s actions on the deal in Parliament, Mr. Sharma said: “The government has now come full circle to acknowledge what we did in 2008 was right and what they did… [ blocking the deal] was wrong. The problems came up with the supplementary compensation issue. In 2010, the BJP in Opposition introduced certain amendments to the agreement that it is now withdrawing in 2015 when in government.”
At their first meeting since the UPA lost the general election in May last, Mr. Obama also reportedly recalled his conversations with Dr. Singh on economic issues, calling him a “great economist.” The U.S. perception of the situation in the region, including Afghanistan, also came up for discussion, as did “bilateral, regional and global issues,” Mr. Sharma said.
The meeting saw an appearance by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, who had met Ms. Gandhi at the banquet hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday.
