Day after PM meets Vajpayee and Advani, BJP unmoved

The BJP on Thursday said it was not impressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s attempts to win over its support for the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The BJP on Thursday said it was not impressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s attempts to win over its support for the Indo-US nuclear deal. The PM had called on his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Wednesday and also met Leader of Opposition L K Advani.

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said the PM sought the party’s cooperation when the deal comes up for debate in the Parliament, but Vajpayee and Advani had made it clear that BJP could not review its position. According to Swaraj, Advani told the PM that the BJP’s “concerns on the nuclear deal have not been addressed”.

At a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the BJP leadership apprised its partners of the Prime Minister’s visit and the exchanges.

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The BJP has been demanding “renegotiation of the deal,” and believes that it puts a cap on India’s nuclear weapon’s programme.

The Leader of the Opposition asked the PM whether he could give an assurance that India would be able to conduct nuclear tests after operationalising the deal, Swaraj said, adding that Singh was non-committal on this.

The BJP wants to shift focus away from the deal and keep the spotlight on Nandigram, which it feels will add to the rift between the UPA and Left. The party will move an Adjournment Motion in the Lok Sabha on the Nandigram violence on Monday and demand a discussion in Rajya Sabha suspending the Question Hour.

Other topics that the main opposition party is gearing up to raise in the Parliament are Telengana statehood issue and paddy prices.

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