Survival of govt more important: Pranab

Scotching speculation about early polls, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has made it clear that the survival of the government was more important than the Indo-US nuclear deal and Left parties will have to be taken on board.

He ruled out the possibility of a minority government signing the nuclear agreement, saying the US was not ready for it.

Mukherjee also said that India had not conducted negotiations on the agreement with a "fixed timeline", in an apparent response to the US which has set the deadline of May.

"We are trying to evolve a consensus and first the consensus will be with the supporting parties," he said in an interview to 'Outlook' magazine.