NEW DELHI (AFP) - The future of India's coalition government and a controversial nuclear deal with the United States were hanging in the balance Monday as parliament opened debate ahead of a key confidence vote.
The Indian government will collapse and early elections will be called if the coalition of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh loses a vote on Tuesday, and TV projections showed the outcome could go either way by just a few ballots.
losely with the United States, and would compromise the country's nuclear weapons programme.

The Indian government is in a crisis, and will soon face a test of confidence, the outcome of which is going to determine whether it remains in power. This is because the Congress party, which forms part of the ruling coalition, called the United Progressive Alliance, or the UPA, has decided to go ahead with the nuclear deal that it signed with America two years ago.
The deal, which was finalized between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George Bush during the latter's visit to India in March 2006, was seen as historic and unprecedented. But it drew as much criticism as praise, from both India and America.
s, if the latter went ahead with the deal despite losing the trust vote.

The Indian government faces a crucial vote of confidence Tuesday over the Indo-US nuclear treaty amid allegations that huge amounts of money are changing hands to buy fringe voters in the lower House of Parliament, the Lok Sabha.
Indian bookies, usually centered on cricket matches, are emerging as an important factor that could determine whether the government will survive the day. Domestic newspapers are making the vote in the 543-member house look too close to call.
lation, which increased more than 11 percent in June.

CHANDIGARH: The people of Punjab have been curiosuly watching the role of Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) MP's during the trust vote in Parliament on Tuesday, considering the fact that SAD and BJP its alliance partner in Punjab have been supporting the setting up of nuclear plant in the state.
So far so when the debate on trust motion over nuclear issue was going on in the Parliament, the state BJP president Rajinder Bhandari on Monday spoke in favour of setting up of nuclear plant. The statement of Bhandari is significant in wake of BJP's stand against the nuclear deal at national level.
ime Minister since Sikhs would not spare Akalis for opposing the Sikh PM.

A LAST-MINUTE power play by the low-caste female political leader Kumari Mayawati has left India's congress-led Government scrambling for votes to survive a confidence vote in national parliament later today.
Ms Mayawati, the Chief Minister of India's biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, and a fierce critic of the Congress Party, has convinced two minor parties that were expected to vote with the Government to switch sides. She has also managed to poach several members from the Samajwadi Party, which recently threw its numbers behind the governing coalition.
single vote, The Times said.

India has witnessed many a campaign designed and executed by political spin masters of various political parties. Gareebi Hatao, Jai Jawan Jai Kisan,

NEW YORK: The proposed US-India civilian nuclear deal poses no proliferation danger and its criticism is unfounded, argues M.R. Srinivasan, former chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, writing in the Wall Street Journal even as the Manmohan Singh government seeks a confidence vote on the issue in parliament.
In an opinion piece published Monday in the Asia edition of the Journal, Srinivasan has sought to allay the fears of some non-proliferation advocates in the US who have stepped up their campaign against the deal, now passing through a delicate phase, apprehending that it would facilitate a new nuclear test by India and thereafter allow it to upgrade its nuclear arsenal.
in the future, Srinivasan remarks in the Journal.

If there was one wish which any Indian American today was asked to make as the Parliament starts debating the confidence motion of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh it would be its successful passage, even if it is by one vote.
This is not out of any love or affection for the ruling United Progressive Alliance, which has occupied the South Block for more than four years. It is not that the Indian Americans are satisfied with the performance of this Congress-led coalition. The large Indian American community here wishes the UPA Government to survive, simply because they want the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal to see the light of the day.
differ from their leaders back home

By Anurag Joshi MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee rose on Monday on growing expectations the government would survive a crunch vote in parliament, which would ease global investors' fears of prolonged political uncertainty.
Traders said buoyant equities also boosted sentiment.
anted temporary release from jail. If the government loses, then early elections before the end of this year would be all but certain.

By Somini Sengupta NEW DELHI: New India threatened to eclipse Old India this week, as a new party headed by the daughter of so-called untouchables rattled

The fate of India's coalition Government and its historic nuclear deal with the United States was hanging in the balance today as parliament began a debate that will culminate in a no-confidence vote tomorrow.
While government and opposition leaders made impassioned speeches before a packed Lok Sabha — the lower house of the Indian parliament — backroom dealing reached fever pitch as both sides struggled to make up numbers for the vote.
appen before May.

Thanjavur (PTI): Veteran scientist Prof. CNR Rao has said that the Indo-US civil nuclear deal would propel the country among the superpowers of the world