Dikshit was speaking at a public meeting in connection with the state conference of the Kerala Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee.

In New Delhi, Congress media department chairman M Veerappa Moily told reporters: “The deal will have to happen in the interest of the nation... the deal is not a matter of only the UPA government’s pride, it is a matter of national pride. For that matter, any international negotiation for the benefit of the country is a matter of national pride.”

Pointing out that it was the UPA-Left committee which had allowed the Government to start negotiations with the IAEA, Moily said the Government had addressed all earlier concerns of the Left and other political parties and would do so again. “There is no reason to get concerned over the developments,” he said.

“It is for the chairman of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal, Pranab Mukherjee, to call a meeting at an appropriate time to apprise the committee about developments in negotiations with the IAEA. There is no need for one party in the UPA-Left joint mechanism to panic over reports on the IAEA negotiations,” he said.