From correspondents in Delhi, India, 08:00 PM IST

The Congress party, which leads India's ruling coalition, Sunday thanked US President George W. Bush for his 'untiring' efforts in clearing the India-US civil nuclear deal in the House of Representatives even as it criticised the Left parties for opposing the pact.

Describing the clearance of the deal by the US House as the 'highest feat' of diplomacy by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress general secretary M. Veerappa Moily said the country is also 'grateful' to President Bush whose untiring efforts made it possible.

'This is the highest feat of diplomacy chiselled and sculpted by our great statesman Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, guided and inspired by our visionary party president Sonia Gandhi,' Moily, also the media in-charge of the party, said in a statement.

He also congratulated the team of diplomats and nuclear scientists who helped in the process of bringing the deal to fruition.

'The approval of the deal in the US House is a setback to the Left parties, which have been working as the agents of China,' Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari told party channel Jai Hind TV.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)