Govt briefs BJP on nuke deal

JYOTI MALHOTRA

New Delhi, July 26, 2007 : The government pulled out its star team to brief the BJP on the nuclear deal it has just ``frozen’’ with the US today, but the BJP has decided to reserve judgement until it sees the text of the agreement.

Led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the government team consisted of national security adviser MK Narayanan, atomic energy chief Anil Kakodkar, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and foreign secretary Shanker Menon.

But, just like the Left parties had done yesterday, the BJP insisted on seeing the letter of the agreement, and not be guided by the spirit of the discussions.

Evidently, Delhi has been coy about the text because it has agreed with the Americans that both sides will release the text, probably some time next week.

Narayanan did much of the talking, assuring the BJP side that India’s national interest had been protected, that all concerns over reprocessing rights as well as fuel supply in perpetuity had been taken care of.

However, the BJP team – which consisted of former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee, Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Rajnath Singh – refused to be convinced. Brajesh Mishra was also present during the discussions, but L K Advani was absent because he had left for Singapore this morning.

The BJP leaders said they wanted to know if the Hyde Act, passed in December 2005, which called for annual certifications on a number of issues, would supersede the 123 agreement or not. But they said they got no clear answers.

``We are not going to be impressed with smart language. We would first like to see the text of the agreement,’’ one BJP leader said.

When the UPA decided to first sign the agreement, the BJP had raised four objections : first, there will be no compromise on India’s strategic security; two, no compromise on nuclear sovereignty; three, no compromise on independent direction to foreign policy; four, if the US did not guarantee fuel supply, what would happen to the nuclear reactors on which India had spent large sums of money?

Moreover, the PM had said in Parliament, that the nuclear deal with the US would put India on par with other nuclear countries. Did that mean that the US would grant Delhi a perpetual waiver as it had done with China under the Atomic Act of 1954?

``There was no satisfactory answer, the PM only said that it was a trade agreement,’’ one BJP leader said.

He said the BJP was concerned about the impact of the Hyde Act of 2005 and the Atomic Act of 1954 and how these would impact on the 123 agreement.

However, the BJP also said that the nuclear deal should not become the sole benchmark of the bilateral relationship with the US, which the BJP was fully in favour of promoting.

ENDS