New Delhi: Unfazed by the Left's staunch opposition to the Indo-US nuclear agreement, senior Congress leader and Union Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi has expressed confidence the deal would go through the IAEA and NSG stages and be given to the American Congress by this year's end.

"Well, I do so. The way things are moving, it may so happen," Dasmunsi said in an interview to Karan Thapar in the programme Devil's Advocate on CNN-IBN.

He was responding to a question on whether he felt the nuclear deal would go through the IAEA and NSG stages and be given to the US Congress before the end of this year.

Asked if the Government was committed to completing the deal while George W Bush was still the US President, Dasmunsi said, "That point I can't answer, but I can tell you whatever PM committed, whatever PM promised with the whole concurrence of the Cabinet, we are not letting down our PM till the last day of the tenure."

"We are not letting our PM down," he said when asked if the Government would defy the Left and go ahead with the deal. Dasmunsi said Congress president Sonia Gandhi was as committed to the deal as the Prime Minister.

"Absolutely, you are correct. Mrs Gandhi as the head of the party and the UPA is fully committed (to the deal)... there is no difference between Mrs Gandhi and the Prime Minister."

"There are attempts in the country by a section of the media to create a mischievous difference between Mrs Gandhi and the PM, including on the nuclear treaty," he said.

Dasmunsi said the Prime Minister was supported by the party on the deal. "I am absolutely clear in my mind that in coalition politics where the government is seeking support from others, such kind of confusion and things may come, but we shall not let down our prime minister," he said.

"We stand firmly by the prime minister come what may the situation," Dasmunsi said. He further said UPA allies like the NCP, RJD and DMK stood by Singh on the nuclear deal issue.

Side-stepping questions on whether the UPA government will complete five years in office in the wake of the Left parties threatening to pull it down if it went ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal, Dasmunsi said, "The Government is completing full five years. No question about that." "The Government is already in the fifth year and it will complete it," he said.

Asked if the Government has the guts to go for the nuclear deal, Dasmunsi said, "We have replied to this issue both in Parliament and outside many times. It's very, very much important for the energy security of the country. It is not a strategic arrangement. We made it separate on day one."

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Source : PTI