U.S. likely to pass India nuclear deal: senator

NEW DELHI, INDIA - The U.S. Congress was likely to pass a landmark nuclear energy deal with India, but the vote might be delayed until January after the American midterm elections, a leading senator said recently.

Chuck Hagel, chairman of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Sub-Committee, told a news conference in the Indian capital he expected the deal would ultimately be approved without amendments.

"It's conceivable that this would have to be put off until the beginning of the next Congress which would be January next year," he said, adding that he hoped for a vote before the end of the year.

"I'm confident that Congress will vote for it."

The nuclear civil cooperation deal, agreed on a visit to India by President George W. Bush last month, would allow New Delhi to buy foreign nuclear technology for the first time in 30 years, despite its refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But the deal must be approved by the U.S. Congress, where it has met significant opposition.

Indian lobbyists say that some Democrats, who have raised objections to the deal, could be playing for time.

Although they favor stronger relations between the two countries, the Democrats are reluctant to hand Bush a foreign policy coup so close to the November elections, lobbyists say.

One sticking point has been India's insistence that it will continue to do business with Iran, a country accused by Washington of sponsoring terrorism.

Senator Hagel said that questions about India's relationship with Iran were legitimate, but they would not become a condition of the United States accepting the deal.

"The President of the U.S. signed an agreement with the Prime Minister of India - that is what we are evaluating. No additions, no subtractions, no amendments," he said.

Senator Hagel, a Republican, would not say what his own initial reservations about the deal were, but said they had since been addressed.

"I think strategically it represents one of the most thoughtful new approaches to foreign policy in maybe 25 years," he said of the deal.