Even as speculation over the assurances given to Samajwadi Party and JMM for their support to the UPA refuses to die down, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukjerjee said on Saturday that he was not aware any promises made to the parties."I had not made any commitments to anyone. I don't know that any commitments have been made by anybody," Mukherjee told Karan Thapar.He said both SP and JMM were part of the UPA from 2004 and their letters of support were not withdrawn. "Can you tell me, when they have left us (UPA)?"Asked whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was reluctant to bring back JMM chief Shibu Soren into the cabinet, he said it was the prerogative of the PM to decide on who all will be in the cabinet even "if it is a single party government or a coalition government".On whether CPI(M) was wrong in expelling Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee from the party for not quitting the post, the minister said he would not comment on it."But the Speaker's Office should not be brought under the purview of party discipline or party machinery," he said. With regard to the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which will have to consider waiver for India after the process at IAEA, Mukherjee said that India was not depending only on the US but was also talking to other countries like Russia and France.".US is an important player as far as NSG is concerned because we are not members of the NSG. But there are other friends like Russia and France and many other countries with whom we have some sort of nuclear arrangement before the NPT," he said.Asked whether the deal would make it to the US Congress before the September deadline set by America, he said, "I am not aware of the American Congress timeframe. If they can do it its fine. If they can't do it what can we do."When pointed out that US Ambassador David Mulford had said so, he replied: "How can I comment on the American Congressional programme. It is the American Ambassador who knows how the American Congress functions.""The Prime Minister is quite confident that we will get the support of the countries in NSG, in the Board of Governors. As Prime Minister is confident, I am also confident," he said.The Minister said that India has already approached every member of the NSG and was trying to convince them. "There is impeccable record so far as India is concerned about its commitment on non-proliferation or total control of our nuclear material," he said adding India's commitment to non-proliferation without being a signatory to the NPT. Evading a direct reply on whether Chinese President Hu Jintao had given any assurance on the deal to the Prime Minister, Mukherjee said, "Only PM and Jintao can answer that".Asked whether future US presidents can push the nuclear deal, he said, "What they will do after entering the White House, it is for them to do. What I know is in the House of Representatives, in the Congress, there was a strong bipartisan support of the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement and I hope that will continue."
