Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is likely to face tough time in maintaining his stand on not allowing uranium sales to India especially after his government favoured India's waiver at the Nuclear Supplier Group meet at Vienna.

While, the Australian government still maintains its stance on not selling uranium to India, until Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Government joins the NPT treaty, The Age reported today, ''This stance may sound like a grand contradiction.''

Writing in the paper Robert Ayson, Chief Investigator of Australian Nuclear Choices Reasearch Council Project said, this stand would be difficult for the Rudd governmnet to keep up for long as US-India deal would help put in place defacto NPT treaty that is being built around India as it is welcomed as a nearly official member of the nuclear club.

He said India will also have a separate safeguard arrangement with IAEA and has also agreed to separate its military and civilian nuclear facilities. Keeping in view that India's signing NPT is impossible as the treaty does not recognise India as a nucl ear weapon state and because New Delhi is unlikely to disarm anytime soon, “This might be the best chance we get,'' Ayson felt.

The paper also said that the Rudd government would come under increasing pressure from the opposition as the previous Howard government during its last months had advocated uranium sales to India. The opposition coalition is now accusing the new governm ent of missing a fine chance to improve relationship with India. – PTI