Click to play videoNew Delhi: The impending storm from Left leaders over the nuclear deal seems to have blown over for now after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made his defence of the deal in Parliament on Tuesday.
However, while the Government may have cleared some political hurdles, some members of the strategic community are still holding out.
The signals were unmistakable at the end of the day. The UPA and the Left were ready to begin on a fresh slate.
But not before the Left got its pound of flesh- a personal and categorical assurance from no less than the prime minister on the nuclear deal.
"The Prime Minister's assurance to the Rajya Sabha is acceptable to India,” said member, CPM Politburo, Sitaram Yechury.
Earlier, Mukherjee read out a brief statement in the Lok Sabha and later the Rajya Sabha.
"The US Government has categorically assured India that these agreements fulfills all commitments made by them in the joint statement,” Mukherjee said.
He also assured Parliament that India's strategic nuclear power programme would not be affected by the nuclear deal with America.
He assured that would be a specific agreement on safeguards with the IAEA, a commitment to an independent foreign policy.
And the prescriptive and extraneous provisions in the nuclear deal would not find a place in the bilateral agreement.
However, the Government's headache isn't over. It is now the turn of a section of atomic scientists as retired Atomic Energy Chief Homi Sethna slammed the deal.
"Nuke deal is not in India's interest. It favours USA and it can walk out of the deal any time. We should explore other sources of energy,” said Sethna.
Other scientists are keeping quiet until their meeting later this week with the head of the atomic energy commission, Anil Kakodkar.
So even if the politicians are satisfied for the moment, the nuclear deal may see more fireworks in the days ahead.
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