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NEW DELHI-India's parliament debated on a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government on Monday that will decide the fate of a nuclear deal with the United States and could trigger a snap election.The vote, due on Tuesday, is so close that several MPs who are ill may be flown or wheeled in from hospital, and others, in jail for crimes such as murder and extortion, have been granted temporary release.If the Congress party-led government falls there will almost certainly be an election this year. It would also likely lead to the scrapping of the civilian nuclear agreement and throw economic policy into limbo just as inflation rises dangerously.Arriving at parliament on Monday morning, Prime Minister Singh gave a "V" for victory sign."We will prove our majority on the floor of the house," he said, providing a boost to India's stock market, which is watching the debate nervously.The main 30-share BSE index ended the day up around 1.5 percent, but volumes were thin."Investors believe the government has a fair chance of pulling it off," said Sandeep Neema, fund manager at JM Financial Mutual Fund. "Nevertheless, there is an event risk, a major one. and people would rather wait than take a call."The vote essentially pits the Congress-led coalition in favor of the deal against the communists and a coalition led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP says the nuclear deal limits India's ability to test nuclear weapons.As in the days of Noah....
