US Ambassador David C Mulford met Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon on Thursday for the second time in four days for consultations on the status of the troubled Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

The Indian side was tightlipped about the meeting as well as the contents of their discussions. But the US side dropped enough hints that the nuclear deal was the topic.

Mulford, accompanied by senior officials from the Embassy, also met joint secretary (Americas) in the External Affairs Ministry headquarters.

There were also indications from the US side that Mulford, who has very enthusiastically worked to push the deal over the past one year, has anxiously inquired with the top Indian official about the UPA government’s intentions on the deal.

On Monday, he had met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Foreign Secretary in the backdrop of statements by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, virtually announcing a deferment of the negotiations for operationalising the deal in view of opposition from the Left parties.

Difficult ‘homework’

The same was subsequently conveyed by Singh to US President George W Bush during their telephonic conversation the same day when he referred to the “difficulties” at home.

On Tuesday, however, the US State Department spokesman had hoped that the India would take the deal to its logical conclusion and not put it in the back-burner.

A clearer picture on the issue could be available next week as the next meeting of the UPA-Left panel on the nuclear issue is scheduled to meet here on Monday.

The Left parties have reserved their comments on the Prime Minister’s talk of deferring nuclear negotiations, saying they would wait until the panel meeting on Monday.