BJP sharpens attack on Cong-SP ties

With the Samajwadi Party set to bail the UPA Government out of the nuclear deal crisis, it is clear that the BJP will sharpen its plank of 8220;nuclear nationalism8221; even as it mounts fresh pressure on the Government to take a vote of confidence. The party also draws a contrast8212;as has been its wont recently8212;between the 8220;opportunistic8221; UPA-Left alliance of the past four years and the NDA8217;s 8220;near-perfect8221; run of the preceding six years.

Other than the expected vitriol, when the party8217;s prime-ministerial candidate L K Advani, along with the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Jaswant Singh, holds a press conference here on Saturday, he8217;s likely to showcase the party8217;s 8220;superior coalition architecture and history8221; of the last few years 8220;that led to the emergence of a bipolar polity8221; in the country.

The n-deal is the perfect nail upon which to hang these assertions, and the BJP has reiterated several times that by agreeing to the nuclear deal in its present form, the UPA government, with its new-found partner SP, is 8220;compromising the country8217;s nuclear sovereignty8221;.

8220;BJP is concerned over the political theatre of the absurd being played in Delhi designed to save the tottering UPA Government,8221; BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.