Click to play videoNew Delhi: US Ambassador to India David Mulford, who has been backing the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, spoke to CNN-IBN about the stand that the US Congress is likely to take when the deal is tabled.
CNN-IBN: Could the deal be operationalised during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit?
David Mulford: Well there is hope. It may be a bit of a long shot, but it is not impossible. The Congress which is capable of making flexible decisions if it wishes to, one never presumes on the authority of Congress - they make their own decisions. But it is not impossible that the leadership may decide this quickly.
CNN-IBN: How confident are you of the deal going through the Congress this time? How does the administration plan to deal with those who oppose the deal?
David Mulford: Well the bipartisan majority you saw earlier at the time of the Hyde Act is still intact, whether the majority will be of the same size I am not sure of that but I am sure that the majority is still there. However, the question is how do you get people positioned in the parliamentary process to carry out the vote within the time frame that we have?
CNN-IBN: What happens if the deal is voted down? Will India be able to pursue nuclear agreements with other nations?
David Mulford: Well I think it will not fail. It will be passed. It is a very unlikely any problem will emerge.
CNN-IBN: So you are not ruling out that the deal might not happen in this session?
David Mulford: Well it might not happen at the end of this month, it might not happen in this Congress, but remember because of all the work done, because of the international consensus that is created in the NSG and the IAEA and the presentation of the legislation, presidential determinations that are going to be part of the legislation it is likely now that the content of the deal will remain intact even if it has to fall over into a new administration and be voted out on a new Congress.
CNN-IBN: The Indo-US nuclear deal has moved at an amazing pace in the last three months. Was their a moment of doubt about the deal not to get through? What according to you was the biggest hiccup in the deal?
David Mulford: There were a number of moments of doubt that the deal will actually not progress. And this has occurred at different time and context. It is important at the end in June when PM decided that they will go ahead and move to the final phases. If that decision was not made then a situation would have arisen where content of this deal may not be necessarily assured of continuing into new administration because it might be reopened, new terms offered. But because this was moved to the IAEA and then to NSG creating the international consensus, of which, US is part of. And then legislature presented at the Congress, this will be the deal that comes out even if this is not the Congress that does the vote.
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