The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs Wednesday discussed the draft nuclear cooperation agreement negotiated last week in Washington under which India's concerns over reprocessing spent fuel have been taken onboard by the United States.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chaired the meeting attended among others by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony and Home Minister Shivraj Patil to have their assessment on the civil nuclear deal before deciding on the next course of action.
Senior Union ministers P Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad also attended the meeting.
The leaders are expected to be briefed on the nature of tough negotiations that led to US understanding of New Delhi's concerns that had to be addressed in the 123 Agreement to operationalise the civil nuclear deal.
National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, who led the Indian delegation to Washington that included Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, achieved the breakthrough after protracted negotiations to overcome differences over these issues.
The US reservation on giving India the right to reprocess spent fuel was addressed after New Delhi offered to set up a dedicated national facility under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
With the Monsoon session of Parliament due to meet from August 10, Dr Singh is also expected to brief Left allies and leaders of other political parties on the outcome of the Washington talks.
The Left parties have demanded a full-fledged discussion on the agreement in Parliament.
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