Amritsar: In favouring the India-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is only trying to safeguard the national interest, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Saturday.

He also insisted that there was no threat to the government because the Left has said it will withdraw its support to the government if the India-US nuclear deal was taken forward.

Mukherjee, who visited a checkpost on the border with Pakistan in the Dera Baba Nanak sector near here, told reporters that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat was wrong in saying that Manmohan Singh was responsible for the present "political crisis" in the country over the nuclear deal.

"There are some problems and we are talking to our UPA partners and the Left parties to find a way out. A solution will be reached shortly. The nuclear deal is important to meet the rising energy needs of the country," he said.

"We are a nuclear-capable country and cannot be clubbed with non-nuclear countries while signing the nuclear deal. We are taking up this matter with the US," he said.

 

Source : IANS