Advani jumps on, asks PM who missed the bus

Leader of the Opposition LK Advani has challenged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s defence of the Indo-US nuclear agreement that the country can’t afford to “miss the bus” ...

Leader of the Opposition LK Advani has challenged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s defence of the Indo-US nuclear agreement that the country can’t afford to “miss the bus” of nuclear renaissance, asking the PM to clarify if he thought the earlier national governments had indeed kept missing the bus by not signing the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“Why had all previous governments, including that of the Congress, not signed the NPT?” Advani said while speaking to mediapersons here, asking if the Prime Minister meant the previous governments had erred by doing so. He also asserted that the nuclear deal was an issue of serious national import and no private matter of the UPA and its warring ally, the Left, to be decided between them. Advani urged that a Joint Parliamentary Committee be constituted to look into the issue.

He also underlined his party posture that the agreement was “flawed” and would cramp the country’s strategic options, and said signing the agreement has now effectively got India to be part of the NPT.

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While reiterating that his party was opposing the agreement “purely in national interest”, Advani observed that the Left opposition to it was only because of its anti-Americanism.

According to Advani, the BJP believed that the deal would impose US legislative curbs on the country and the provisions of the 123 agreement said so. The US, Advani held, has many laws, including the Hyde Act, which may be brought to bear on India as its fallout.

Advani also called for a strong national legislation to neutralise the negative impacts of the deal to protect the country’s autonomy in strategic progress and foreign policy.

Yechury indicates Left names on panel

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: The composition of the Committee to allay the Left parties’ concerns over the Indo-US nuclear deal is likely to be announced on Monday even as CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury told reporters in Kolkata that the Left would have six members in the committee and “those Left leaders who regularly attend the UPA-Left coordination committee meetings will be representing the Left parties”. Those who regularly attend coordination committee meetings are Yechury, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, his CPI counterpart A B Bardhan, CPI Secretary D Raja, Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrata Biswas and RSP leader Abani Roy.

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