Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar met BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie on Monday to apprise them of India’s talks with the IAEA for a safeguard agreement, the next step towards operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal. Ahead of the nuclear deal debate in the Lok Sabha, BJP leaders said there is no change in the party’s opposition to the deal and were “baffled” by the Government’s initiative of coming to them again. Senior Government functionaries, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have met BJP leadership in the recent past, but the saffron party has taken a stand that “it was too little, too late”. BJP views the latest visit by Kakodkar as an attempt to pre-empt allegations from the opposition party that it was kept in the dark on developments related to the nuclear negotiations. “He said what he had to say — that the deal was the best India could get in the present circumstances. We reiterated our opposition,” said Yashwant Sinha. BJP sources said while National Security Advisor M K Narayanan met Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani earlier this month, the latter had suggested the Government could keep in touch with Sinha and Shourie to discuss the details. Kakodkar’s visit to Sinha and Shourie, who have been the public faces of the party’s opposition to the deal, is being seen as a result of that.
