Mukherjee on the flight to New York. Picture by Jay Mandal/ On Assignment

Washington, March 23: Even as foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee landed in New York this spring morning, the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has proposed that the two ministers dispense with their aides, sit by the fireplace to break bread and realistically take stock of where they stand on the nuclear deal and other issues.

A Bush administration official involved in giving the final touches to the visiting minister’s three-day schedule here said the Monday night dinner, without even note-takers and with no pre-set time limit, will lead to a clearer picture whether implementation of the deal is possible during the tenures of the current US administration and the Manmohan Singh government.

A meeting between Mukherjee and US President George W. Bush only hours before Monday’s dinner is meant to reassure each other that the Bush-Singh vision of an Indo-US partnership is not comatose and still alive to be passed on to the next occupant of the White House in 10 months. So far, Singh has only told Bush by telephone that “certain difficulties have arisen with respect to the operationalisation” of the deal.

Mukherjee’s White House meeting will be the first face-to-face exchange on the subject between an Indian political leader and the US President since that fateful telephone talk last October 15.

The Americans are not entertaining any hopes at all that Mukherjee’s meetings will end the impasse on the deal or clear the way for large Indian defence orders, the twin issues of the greatest interest in Washington.

A state department official involved in providing inputs to Rice for the meetings with Mukherjee said last night that there had been a furious debate within her circle on what Rice should say in public after meeting the Indians on Monday morning.

The US assistant secretary of state for South Asia, Richard Boucher, who was in New Delhi a few weeks ago, is said to have conveyed a very pessimistic picture to Rice on the operability of the nuclear deal during the life of the Bush administration.

Therefore, the consensus in the state department at the time of writing is that Rice should not discuss the deal in public unless she is asked by reporters, an aide to the secretary of state said last night.

Rice is expected to window dress the relationship with India, referring to the election of Indian American Bobby Jindal as Louisiana governor, Indian aid to Afghanistan, greater bilateral trade and other similar success stories.

Mukherjee will give final shape to his public pronouncements following briefings from Indian ambassador Ronen Sen and his deputy, Ramindar Singh Jassal, this evening after arriving in Washington.