BJP146;s major poll plank: terror, not nuclear deal

As the BJP on Saturday kickstarted its campaign for various state polls, as also the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Indo-US nuclear deal figured nowhere on its four-point election agenda. Listing terror, inflation, 8220;crisis in agriculture sector8221; and 8220;appeasement politics of the UPA Government8221; as its four-point agenda, party general secretary Ananth Kumar announced the resumption of L K Advani8217;s Vijay Samkalp Yatra 8212; a roadmap of his 15-odd rallies beginning from the one in Bangalore on Saturday and culminating in Hyderabad in October-end. Party president Rajnath Singh would also address separate rallies.

On the second day of the ongoing BJP national executive, while party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad moved the political resolution, it was ideologue Arun Shourie who dwelt on the Indo-US nuclear deal. Citing the letter sent by the Bush administration to the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress and the waiver granted by the NSG, Shourie repeated the charge that India8217;s nuclear sovereignty 8220;stood compromised and that the BJP8217;s apprehensions had come true8221;. The form and content of the party8217;s opposition to the deal was, however, aimed more at the 8220;deceit of the UPA Government8221;. 8220;The UPA Government has perpetrated a mega fraud on both Parliament and the people of the country,8221; read the resolution.

A couple of executive members wanted to ask whether the 8220;deal was irrevocable8221;, but the party, much in line with Rajnath8217;s speech on Friday, didn8217;t talk about renegotiating of the deal if the party came to power. 8220;We are for good, friendly relations with the US, including strategic partnership. But the way the deal has been negotiated and what the Government has accepted sows the seeds of future discord between the two countries,8221; said the party in its political resolution.

It was the intervention of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi that was the highlight of the meeting. Arguing that the Congress had 8220;drifted from the traditional party position8221; on national sovereignty, he listed his 10-point agenda 8212; including the hanging of Afzal Guru, Ram Sethu, some UPA allies rooting for the SIMI 8212; in the resolution that ended with a plea to give assent to GUJCOC.