Indian Government Confidence Vote Clears Way For Nuke Pact

New Delhi, India (AHN) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition government on Tuesday won a confidence vote from parliament amid opposition lawmakers' charges that the administration bribed their colleagues for support.

The ruling coalition and Singh received 275 approval votes while the opposition, which demanded Singh's resignation and called for the confidence vote, got 256 votes during a raucous two-day session.

The confidence vote allows the four-year-old government of Singh to go ahead with its plan to sign a controversial nuclear energy pact with the U.S. The plan triggered the Communist Party of India's breakaway from the ruling coalition on July 8 that swung parliament's majority to the oppositions' favor. The Samajwadi Party filled the gap left by the leftist lawmakers but the confidence vote pushed through.

Under the proposed nuclear deal, India could buy atomic fuel and technology from the U.S. even if it is not a party to international nonproliferation accords. In exchange, India will open its civilian nuclear reactors to inspection from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The opposition led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party had criticized the deal, fearing it will compromise India's nuclear weapons program and weaken its foreign policy.