New York: It was a moment of pride for all the guests at a reception for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here last evening when the electrifying news about the passage of the Indo US nuclear deal by the US House of Representatives in Washington broke out.

The guests were just being seated when lawmaker Joseph Crowley, who had been pushing the deal for last three years, rang up Chairman of the American Indians for Democracy, Sant Singh Chatwal, on cell phone as the vote was coming to end, saying, good news.

Chatwal immediately alerted journalists who were sitting just behind the VIP enclosure to share the news and also informed people around him. Quietness gave way to chatter as some 500 guests, leading community leaders among them, began discussing various aspects of the deal like what made the House approve it and eagerly awaited what Prime Minister Singh would have to say.

About half an hour later, Singh, looking pleased with development, walked into the room accompanied by top officials. However, in his address, Singh did not directly comment on the House vote but did depart from the text to say that the nuclear deal is in the interest of India, for US and the world at large.

Source : PTI