US firms ready to launch lobbying campaign for N-deal

Major American companies like GE and Boeing as well as a prominent trade body are ready to launch a big lobbying campaign to persuade the Congress to bless the Indo-US civil nuclear deal as soon as any compromise between the two governments is nailed down, according to a media report.

"All the right tom-toms are beating for a successful conclusion to this deal, which will be huge for the US companies," Ron Somers, the head of the US-India Business Council within the US Chamber of Commerce, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying.

But the Journal reports that the lobbying campaign by the key American firms and the US Chamber of Commerce could face stiff opposition from a number of lawmakers, including the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who have raised an 'alarm' over India's military and economic ties with Iran.

And now he is about to find out how much, it notes, saying that after months of trying to resolve deep divisions, the two nations are set to make a final push next week to seal a pact opening the door for deeper political, military and commercial ties between the US and India.

At its heart lies a proposal to provide New Delhi with nuclear fuel and technology, which critics say could undermine international efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, the paper reports.

The question, the Journal says, is whether the Bush administration can hammer out a compromise on nuclear cooperation that doesn't undercut existing US laws or give India leeway to develop a new batch of atomic weapons.

India is demanding several "painful" concessions, it says and quotes the US officials and experts as saying, that these are almost certain to anger key leaders in Congress from both parties piquing the attention of General Electric Co. and Westinghouse Electric Co.

"This deal is very very important to both countries," Bill Begert, vice-president at Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Co, which hopes to supply engines for the fighter-jet deal, is quoted as saying."If this falls apart, it will have real near-term consequences for everyone in the defence industry."

Many US lawmakers, the Journal says, also have vowed to oppose any deal that loosens restrictions on how India can use US-provided nuclear fuel.

The nuclear deal, they say, is key to cementing a partnership between the world's oldest democracy, the US, and its largest, India, after decades of frostiness.