In the midst of efforts at a rapprochement with his allies from the Left parties over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh received a phone call from US President George Bush on Tuesday evening, cordially greeting him on India's Independence Day.
Bush called Singh "to convey the greetings of the government and people of the United States on the 60th Anniversary of India's Independence," the spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The interesting part of the ten-minute phone call was their review of "the status of Indo-US relations in several areas, including in the area of civil nuclear cooperation," the statement said.
Given the opposition to the recently-concluded 123 agreement from all non-UPA constituents of the Parliament, Bush's call could further add to Singh's woes as his government attempts to sell the merits of the deal to the Left parties.
"While thanking the US President, Prime Minister said that India was well on the way to fulfilling the dreams and aspirations of its founding fathers, and of its people," the statement said.