WASHINGTON, Nov 17: The US Senate overwhelmingly approved a deal to share American nuclear technology with India, steamrolling a meek opposition by 85 to 12 votes.

“I appreciate the Senate's leadership on this important legislation and look forward to signing this bill into law soon,” President George W. Bush said on Friday, hours after the Senate endorsed the bill.

The House of Representatives had approved the bill by an equally overwhelming 359-68 votes in July, a month after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed it by a 16-2 margin.

The Senate and the House will now reconcile their versions of the bill before the next congressional session begins in January, and then it will go to President Bush for signing.

The Thursday afternoon vote in the Senate came after an 11-hour debate on the proposed legislation but its adoption in one working day made it obvious that India has a strong bipartisan support in the US Congress.

Several Democratic lawmakers noted that internal political changes in the United States do not affect India’s influence on Capitol Hill where the Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate in last week’s midterm election.

In New Delhi, Indian officials gave a cautious welcome to the approval of a plan that would allow the United States to start shipping nuclear fuel and technology to India.

"We must await the final version before drawing any conclusions on the legislation," said India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The opposition parties in India have accused the government of giving too many concessions to the US to clinch the deal which could undermine New Delhi’s nuclear weapons programme.The mood was different in the US Senate where senior lawmakers from both Republican and Democratic parties championed the proposal, handing President Bush an important victory on one of his top foreign policy initiatives.

Speakers praised the US offer to share nuclear technology with India as a step towards strengthening ties with a friendly Asian power that has long maintained ‘a responsible nuclear programme’.

Senior Democratic Senator Joseph Biden, who will head the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from January, said the endorsement pushes America ‘a giant step closer’ to a ‘major shift’ in US-Indian relations.

"If we are right, this shift will increase the prospect for stability and progress in South Asia and in the world at large," he said.

Republican Senator Richard Lugar, who currently heads the Foreign Relations Committee, called the plan a ‘lasting incentive’ for India to shun future nuclear arms tests and "to cooperate closely with the United States in stopping proliferation".In a statement placed on the White House web site, President Bush praised the Senate for endorsing his plan, saying it would "bring India into the international nuclear non-proliferation mainstream and will increase the transparency of India's entire civilian nuclear programme."

During the 11-hour debate on Thursday, critics argued that the India deal not only undermines US non-proliferation policies but will also renew a nuclear arms race in South Asia. The extra civilian nuclear fuel that the deal would provide, they say, could free India's domestic uranium for use in its weapons programme. Pakistan and China could respond by increasing their nuclear stockpiles, sparking a regional arms race.

Supporters beat back changes they said would have killed the proposal by making it unacceptable to India.

Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, proposed a condition that would have required India to cut off military-to-military ties with Iran before allowing civil nuclear cooperation.