"If the government goes, let it go," said Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh in the course of an exclusive interview to rediff.com.

"We value our friendship with the Left, but not at cost of national interest," he said, while debating the importance of the nuclear deal for the country's progress.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi's [Images] resolve to fight the election as was first reflected by her statement at the Iftar party hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] on October 6. The same tempo is now being reflected in the party too.

The Congress Party's top functionaries seem to have taken the cue from Sonia Gandhi's combative stance on the nuclear deal at her Haryana speech on Sunday, where she threatened to give a "befitting reply" to the Left for blocking the deal. 

Digvijay Singh, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, who is also in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, said that the United Progressive Alliance government wants the nuclear deal in the national interest.

He said, "The nuclear issue is not a small issue. It is a major issue. Initially, we will get a marginal increase in power production, but later on India will get more energy."  

"It (the deal) is the part of efforts to set up nuclear power plants with the best technology in the world. Only 3 percent of our power requirements are being met through nuclear energy at present. That is because we haven't got right technology. Why should we not get it?"

Sonia Gandhi also equated the nuclear deal with the country's developmental aspirations. The Congress appears to have finessed its campaign tactic by posing the issue as Left versus 'development'.

He also added, "We have lost decades. We should do it today, not tomorrow. We can get this government again, but let us not miss this opportunity."

When asked how the party will convince the people about the deal, he responded, "We will say it is in the national interest and that we are ready to lose the government for it."

He said the two great achievements of the UPA government led by Dr Manmohan Singh are the employment guarantee programme and the Right to Information Act, which is the greatest tool to empower people.

On the issue of the Sethu Samudram shipping project, he said, "People have become wiser now. The BJP are the people who originally conceived and sanctioned the project. At that time why did the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal keep quiet? BJP is not committed to Ram, it is trapped in factional politics."

Read the full interview tomorrow