Nuclear deal may be signed on 13 October

Indo-US civilian nuclear deal may be signed on 13 October in Washington, after missing the 4 October schedule, when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited New Delhi on her farewell tour.Although, there will be a new venue and schedule, the two signatories will remain same: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will travel to Washington and sign the agreement there with Rice. According to top sources, the government didn't see any problem in the delay. Rather it suited the UPA government as it wants to see the final shape of legislation after President George W Bush signs it into the law.According to sources, as the senate has added supplementary legislations and the Hyde Act still remains relevant for the US administration India wants to see which are the areas Bush highlights in his notification. South Block expects the occasion will clear certain misgivings. At her joint press conference with Mukherjee on Saturday, Rice maintained: "The Hyde Act is completely consistent with 123 Agreement....123 Agreement is consistent with the Hyde Act. The US will keep its commitments to both." Rice said on Saturday that Bush's signing of the legislation into law had got delayed due to "administrative" reasons and there were "no open issues" involved. The US Congress had approved the agreement last week. After the talks between Rice and Mukherjee, the two sides had expressed hope that the 123 agreement would be signed soon. South Block had earlier earmarked two dates—October 4 and 13—for Condoleezza Rice's visit to India and signing the Agreement with her. As she had already visited India last week, Mukherjee now has to travel to Washington as per diplomatic protocol. "The President will sign the legislation very soon. He wants to do it very soon. There are administrative details," Rice said at the joint press conference with Mukherjee. "Let me be clear, the 123 agreement is done. It is a matter of signing and so I don't want anyone to think that we have open issues." said Rice, who also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Opposition Leader L K Advani.