US President George W Bush on Wednesday signed legislation to enact a landmark US-India civilian nuclear agreement, celebrating “the growing ties between the world’s two largest democracies."

"This agreement sends a signal to the world: Nations that follow the path to democracy and responsible behaviour will find a friend in the United States of America," Bush said at a lavish White Mouse signing ceremony.

Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will visit Washington Friday to Washington so that he and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice can formally sign the accord itself, the US State Department announced.

Responding on predictable

lines to President George W Bush's assent to the bill on Indo-US nuclear deal, the BJP and Left parties yesterday said that history will prove that the accord was a "defeat" for India with Washington remaining “silent" on nuclear testing.

But the Congress hailed the signing of legislation into law by Bush, asserting that the Indian nuclear programme would be intact and future generations will not face power shortage.

"Bush is silent in his speech about the contentious issue of nuclear testing and the government has clearly failed in ensuring the sovereignty and nuclear independence for the country," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudi-said after the US leader signed the bill into law.

The Left parties warned the deal would entail "huge costs" for India and was a result of" mutual desperation" on both sides.

The statement by Bush after signing the deal was" nothing but a device" to allay genuine fears over the deal, CPI-M General secretary Prakash Karat told PTI.

Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the deal in July 2005, touching off a difficult battle with wary lawmakers on either side and critics who warn it undermines global efforts to curb the spread of nuclear know-how.

Evidently savouring the resulting diplomatic victory in the twi-light of his term, tfie US president welcomed "the honour of signing legislation that builds on the growing ties between the world's two largest democracies."

The agreement offers India access to sophisticated US technology and cheap atomic energy in return for allowing UN inspections of some of its civilian nuclear facilities -- but not military nuclear sites.

Washington imposed a ban on US-Indian civilian nuclear trade after India's first nuclear test in 1974, but US officials have said a new approach is needed to help the world's largest democracy meet its booming energy needs at a time of skyrocketing oil prices and global warming fears.

US lawmakers attached safeguards on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons technology before passing it overwhelmingly last week and handing the increasingly unpopular Bush administration a foreign policy victory.