New Delhi: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government should "not thrust" the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal on anyone if the Left failed to play ball as the country needs stability, Union Minister Sharad Pawar has said. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo, whose party is a key constituent of Congress led coalition at the Centre, also said that he was embarrassed by Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's suggestion that Pawar would make a good Prime Minister.

Asking the government to take a rational approach on the nuclear deal, he said, "We should try our level best to convince our colleagues, but if we are not in a position to convince... Not getting total support... Majority in Parliament, then we have to take a rational approach."

"We should not thrust it on anyone. The country requires stability and country wants development," he said in an interview to Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate. Pawar, however, said that he would be happy if the nuclear deal goes through as it is an alternate method of generation of energy, which is the need of the hour and is also environment friendly.

He said if the nuclear deal becomes operational, it would add to the strength of the country, but not at the cost of country's stability and economy. At the same time Pawar maintained that the left parties which are opposing the deal are "honest to their thinking.” Pawar's views are significant as his remarks have come at a time when the government has approached the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for arriving at a nuclear safeguards agreement. (PTI)