New Delhi, July 3: Stepping up the pressure on New Delhi, high-profile US Congressman Gary Ackerman, who arrived in Delhi for a four-day visit on Thursday, said that the nuclear agreement should come back to the US Congress for final vote by August, failing which it will not be completed during the tenure of the Bush administration.

Ackerman said the Congress will break for session in September and will meet again after the US Presidential poll process.

Ackerman’s reminder to the India assumes significance, as the US Congress will finalise “official business” transactions during its meetings of the House Rules Committee. This Committee will list the nuclear deal for business only if India is able to complete necessary formalities by August.

Ackerman said that the deal would have to be taken up during the next administration if India fails to firm up a Safeguards Agreement with IAEA and get a waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) by August.

After meeting the PM’s Special Envoy on Nuclear Deal Shyam Saran and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, Ackerman made it clear that India will have to speed up the process, as the American Congress has very little time left.

“The Congress is an ongoing entity. We have a calendar—the calendar is running quickly,” he said after meeting Saran and Menon, during which he and five other members of the delegation were briefed about New Delhi’s efforts to implement the deal at the earliest.

“The processes have moved slower than we had hoped because of obvious reasons,” said Ackerman.