Sonia Gandhi tries on an Assamese japi at the Guwahati rally on Friday. (PTI)

New Delhi, June 14: Sonia Gandhi has argued that nuclear energy is key to fighting price rise, signalling her support to the Indo-US agreement after months of silence.

“Nuclear energy has gained much importance in view of steep crude oil prices in the world,” the Congress president told a rally in Guwahati yesterday, less than a week before the UPA-Left panel meets to discuss the deal on Wednesday.

“The biggest challenge before the country today is escalating prices that are the fallout of the steep increase in crude oil prices. The prices of petroleum and diesel in our country are still much cheaper than that in our neighbouring countries and many other parts of the world. The government is facing tremendous pressure in its efforts to shield people from the real impact of the global crude oil price rise,” Sonia said.

The Left, which has been crying itself hoarse on price rise, is blocking the nuclear deal.

External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee echoed his party chief in Calcutta today. “We are not going for nuclear power for fun,” he told a Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce meeting. Mukherjee stressed the need for nuclear power to achieve energy security as global crude oil prices touch record highs.

The nuclear deal is needed to make power available at an affordable price and to maintain growth at 9 per cent, he said.

In August, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had dared the Left to withdraw support if it did not accept the nuclear agreement. In the following months, the Congress lost its moorings. The government still had a year to complete its term and Sonia appeared reluctant to forfeit power over an issue that was seen as an electoral dud. In a coalition, she said, the views of each constituent mattered.

Although Singh often stressed he still hoped the deal would go through — the last time was on Wednesday — his party appeared uncertain. Sonia’s statement yesterday is the first indication in a while that the Congress, too, has not given up.

The government hopes to get the Left’s go-ahead to complete the India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and seek the waiver from Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) countries. These two steps are needed to operationalise the deal.

“We hope that the Left leaders will appreciate the government’s position. They cannot have it both ways: they can’t insist that there should be no fuel price hike and simultaneously block the nuclear energy option,” a Congress source said.

Commerce minister Kamal Nath said yesterday the government was still working to evolve domestic political consensus on the deal.

As if on cue, the US, too, raised the energy issue. Commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez said at a US-India Business Council meet in Washington: “Rising demand for energy is an issue that our countries can’t ignore. We believe it’s essential to quickly implement that landmark civilian nuclear agreement and bring India into the international nuclear non-proliferation mainstream.”

The US is “committed to being India’s partner in providing clean, sustainable energy”, he added.

CPI opposes deal

CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan iterated the party’s opposition to the deal. “The US is adopting various means to draw the country into a strategic partnership. They have a purpose, an aim. It wants India to act as its outpost in the region to counter-balance China,” he said. “We want India and China to stay together.”