Amidst mounting pressure by the Left parties on the United Progressive Alliance government not to go ahead with the nuclear deal with United States, the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday said it was close to finalising the text of India-specific safeguards but the ball is now in India's court to ready the agreement.
"Both sides are close to a final text but India has to confirm to the IAEA that there is an agreement on the text," sources familiar with India-IAEA talks on India-specific safeguards agreement told PTI from Vienna.
"Until then, there is in fact no agreement. So, the ball is in India's court," they said.
The ruling Congress-led UPA and Left parties had met on Monday and decided to hold further discussions in April on the draft India-specific safeguards agreement with IAEA after the briefing on the outcome of the negotiations in Vienna.
A special Board of Governors' meeting of IAEA is likely to be convened by IAEA Secretary General Mohammed Elbaradei in the second week of May.
The safeguards agreement, along with a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, is a prerequisite to operationalise the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
