The leaders also discussed issues ranging from the status of the India-US civilian nuclear agreement, the recent nuclear test by North Korea, the future of the WTO Doha Round and the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
These issues were, however, peripheral to Bush's desire to get New Delhi's support for the US-led campaign to torpedo Venezuela's bid for a seat on the Security Council.
A very senior official in the Bush administration, while exclusively briefing rediff.com on the purpose of the call, was quick to assert that "there was no pressure" on India to toe the US line.
This plugs into word coming out of New Delhi. On Tuesday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Navtej Sarna dismissed reports in sections of the Indian media that suggested Bush had held out threats in the event India voted in favor of Venezuela.
'When two leaders speak to each other, they do not threaten each other,' Sarna said.
Senior Bush administration officials told rediff.com that the US president reiterated his commitment to see the civilian nuclear deal, which is now pending a Senate vote, through.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Minority Leader Harry Reid have accused each other for not bringing the nuclear deal legislation for a vote before the Senate recessed on September 30. Both leaders have promised to bring the bill to the floor during the session that begins November 13, a week after the key elections to the Senate and House of Representatives on November 6.
Diplomatic observers suggest that the timing of the call confirms that Venezuela was the prime item on the agenda. They say discussion of other issues "was simply by the way, and this talk of being committed to see the nuclear deal through", and the fact that "it was apparently being mentioned in almost the same breath, was necessarily a subtle message that there was a quid pro quo involved here."
Thus, an Indian vote against Venezuela would be a net plus in New Delhi's favour when the nuclear deal comes up for vote, and also in terms of the growing strategic relationship.
A longtime observer and former senior administration official told rediff.com, "This is a president who has made clear that you are either with us or against us, and when he calls up for support against the likes of Venezuela, the clear message is that if you don't support us, you are against us, and that this could impact on various facets of our relationship. So the administration can deny that there wasn't any pressure or anything of the sort, but let's face it, the bottom line with regard to the message is very clear."
"Forget realpolitik, this is the way this president and this administration operates," he added.
Observers suggest that besides Washington, DC's antipathy towards Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez, who last month during the UN General Assembly session described Bush as 'the devil', the strategic reason for the US-led campaign against Venezuela was because of the latter's close relations with Iran.
They point out that although non-permanent members have no veto powers, they do have a certain nuisance value -- and at a time when the US is bidding to invoke the Security Council against Iran's nuclear programme, it does not need a power friendly to that country -- and openly inimical to the US -- sitting on the Security Council.
Thus far, neither Venezuela nor Guatemala, which are vying to replace Argentina as the Latin American representative on the Security Council, have been able to obtain the two-thirds majority needed to win the seat.
Argentina will vacate its seat in December while Peru, the other non-permanent Latin American member of the Security Council, will end its tenure in December 2007.
Oil-rich Venezuela, which has been lobbying aggressively for a non-permanent seat by heaping large amounts of assistance on several African, Asian and Caribbean countries, has accused the United States of pressuring UN member states to vote against it.
Francisco Arias Cardenas, Venezuela's ambassador to the UN, complained to reporters that 'We are fighting against the first power of the world, the owners of the universe. We're happy, we're strong and will continue'.
Senior Venezuelan diplomat Roy Chaderton also accused Washington of 'using all its power to undermine Venezuela's efforts to succeed Argentina.'
Referring to the calls made by President Bush to leaders of member States, Chaderton said, 'There were a lot of calls made from Washington to coerce and scare countries that had decided to vote for Venezuela. This battle will prepare us for another battle within the international community.'
