US defence secretary to meet Advani on N-deal consensus

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who arrived here today on a two-day visit, is not only meeting the prime minister and his Cabinet colleagues to discuss the Indo-US defence relations but also Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani.

Gates, official sources said, would call on Advani tomorrow after his meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister AK Antony.

Gates' meeting with Advani is being seen in the context of the US government's efforts to broker a consensus among political parties on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, which is mired in the opposition by the Left parties.

Gates is likely to ask Advani to support the deal during their face-to-face meeting, sources say. Several US officials have met Advani for this earlier too.

The US has already sounded that unless the Indo-US deal is operationalised by June, the Bush administration will be unable to honour the deal.

The US has also warned that the next regime in Washington DC may not opt for as generous a deal as the Bush regime has signed.

Gates is also scheduled to meet National Security Advisor MK Narayanan.

The Bush administration, meanwhile, said there was a "little bit more time" than the July deadline suggested by a top lawmaker for the Indo-US nuclear deal to be passed in the US Congress. It said any pressure within India to quickly take the deal forward was "good".

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was asked to comment on a statement by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden during his recent visit to New Delhi, were he said the nuclear deal had to be taken up in Congress by June and ratified by July.

Any new US administration would "renegotiate" the deal, Biden said.

But Perino said: "We have a little bit more time than that, obviously, on the calendar before the end of the president's term. But if there's internal pressure from inside India for them to move more quickly, I think that's good. And I saw a report today that said that there are some elements within India that are very supportive of getting the deal done."

When asked if President George W Bush was in touch with New Delhi to push for the nuclear deal, Perino replied: "We are in touch with different levels of government throughout "" here at the National Security Council and the State Department".