Responding on predictable lines to President George W Bush's assent to the bill on Indo-US nuclear deal, the BJP and Left parties on Thursday said that history will prove that the accord was a "defeat" for India with Washington remaining "silent" on nuclear testing.

But the Congress hailed the signing of legislation into law by Bush, asserting that the Indian nuclear programme would be intact and future generations will not face power shortage.

"Bush is silent in his speech about the contentious issue of nuclear testing and the government has clearly failed in ensuring the sovereignty and nuclear independence for the country," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said after the US leader signed the bill into law.

"The last minute face saving comments" by the US President, Rudy said, are nearly "personal assurances and have no legal standing or any statutory back up".

"Only history would prove that its a defeat for the country earned by the UPA at the cost of the common man," Rudy said.

The Left parties warned the deal would entail "huge costs" for India and was a result of "mutual desperation" on both sides.

The statement by Bush after signing the deal was "nothing but a device" to allay genuine fears over the deal, CPI(M) General secretary Prakash Karat said.

Maintaining that there was a "wide gap" between the Indian and the US governments' understanding of the deal, CPI leader D Raja said while Washington considered 123 agreement to be governed by the Hyde Act, the Atomic Energy Act and other American laws, New Delhi was of the view that only 123 agreement was binding.

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