BJP urges renegotiating US nuke deal

New Delhi—Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) describing the Indo-US civil nuclear deal as “significant strategic blunder” asked the Manmohan Singh government to renegotiate it.
A statement issued after meeting of core group of BJP held here made it clear that BJP was opposed to the deal and accused the government for making compromises with the country’s long-term strategic programmes. The meeting was attended by top leaders including L K Advani and BJP chief Rajnath Singh. The statement came in the wake of the media reports that BJP was diluting its stand against the nuke deal. The statement said the government has made “significant strategic blunder by turning the deal into a kind of an icon of India’s relations with the US.” The statement further said the stand of BJP had also explained during meetings between BJP leaders and with former American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, US Ambassador to India David Mulford, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar recently.—Agencies
The BJP has also demanded parliamentary debate on the issue. Meanwhile, Manmohan government has put on hold operationalisation of the deal due to stiff resistance from the Left parties and other opposition parties but it is determined to go ahead with the deal due to pressure by the US.
Former American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, US Ambassador to India David Mulford and US Treasury Secretary held meetings with the opposition leaders and the government leaders recently in the Indian capital to convince them that the nuke deal was in interest of India and should be operationlised as soon as possible.