Bush push for nuclear deal

'I am trying to get the Indian deal done'.

Notwithstanding the Democrats' emphatic victory in US Congressional elections, President George W Bush on Wednesday vowed to push through the civil nuclear deal with India in the coming 'lame duck' session of the Senate.

"I am trying to get the Indian (nuclear) deal done, the Vietnam (trade) deal done and the budgets done," the president told a press conference in reply to a question.

He was asked whether he would support a Bill to extend voting rights in the District of Colombia that is expected to come up in the lame duck session.

Bush's remarks are certain to be music to the ears of New Delhi, specially against the backdrop of apprehensions about the fate of the Bill in view of the Democrats' impressive show in the Congressional polls and the reservations of the proliferation hawks in the party about the deal with India.

The civilian nuclear deal has been identified as one of the top priorities of the administration in the lame duck session of the Senate, the other two being the Vietnam Trade Bill and Domestic Surveillance Bill.

The White House is keen that Senators take up the Vietnam Trade Bill first so that the president will have this with him on hand when he makes a state visit to Vietnam at the time of the Leaders' Summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum scheduled to be held in Hanoi on November 18 and 19.

New Delhi is optimistic the Senate will take up the nuclear deal in the brief session, likely to take place on November 15-16, to enable the completion of the Congressional processes by the year-end.

Basing its hope on the "broad-based bipartisan support" the deal enjoys, India sees a "very good chance" of the Bill securing the Senate's approval.

On its part, New Delhi maintains that the parameters of the proposed law have been clearly outlined by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament and that is "really the template".

Meanwhile, conceding that the Iraq issue played a major role in the Congressional polls, Bush said he changed Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to bring a "fresh perspective" since "Iraq is not working well enough".

"There were different factors that determined the outcome of different races, but no question, Iraq was on people's minds ...I am making a change at the secretary of defence to bring a fresh perspective as to how to achieve something I think most Americans want, which is a victory," Bush said.

Rumsfeld would have left the Pentagon after the Congressional elections and he decided to accept the resignation after a meeting with him yesterday, Bush told reporters while announcing his decision to appoint former CIA Director Robert Gates to replace Rumsfeld.

"I have been talking with Rumsfeld over a period of time about fresh perspective. He likes to call it 'fresh eyes'. He himself understands that Iraq is not working well enough, fast enough," the US president said.

Bush said he and Rumsfeld were constantly assessing whether they had the right people in the right place with the right strategy.

"And so he and I both agreed in our meeting yesterday that it was appropriate that I accept his resignation. And so, the decision was made "" actually, I thought we were going to do fine yesterday. Shows what I know. But I thought we were going to be fine in the election," Bush said.