N-deal: BJP to move resolution

Amidst efforts by the BJP and the Left to evolve a way to reflect a 8216;8216;sense of Parliament8217;8217; on the India-US nuclear deal, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said his party would move a parliamentary resolution regardless of whether it was joined by others.

Amidst efforts by the BJP and the Left to evolve a way to reflect a 8216;8216;sense of Parliament8217;8217; on the India-US nuclear deal, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said his party would move a parliamentary resolution regardless of whether it was joined by others.

The BJP leader8217;s assertion came even though the CPIM, with whom Sinha has been in touch, had reconciled itself to the fact that getting the government to approve a resolution was 8216;8216;very difficult8217;8217;. The CPI has already said it is not interested in a resolution. UPA sources endorsed this, saying the 8216;8216;feedback8217;8217; from the Left was that it would not insist on a resolution.

But the BJP indicated it had no reservations about moving along with the CPIM on the issue. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who accompanied Sinha, said it had been decided at the BJP parliamentary party meeting, that the nuclear deal was not in India8217;s favour and that the BJP would oppose it, for which it was ready to join forces with the CPIM and other parties. CPIM8217;s Sitaram Yechury, who met Sinha on Tuesday, said, 8216;8216;Whether it is a statement or a resolution, one point is clear and that is we want the sense of Parliament to be expressed.8217;8217; He said, the CPIM is working with all parties on the issue, among them the BJP and the Samajwadi Party.

Making an unexpected appearance at the official BJP press briefing for the first time since efforts began to jointly pursue ways to get a 8216;8216;sense of Parliament8217;8217;, Sinha insisted the BJP had no fears of going it alone. 8216;8216;There should be no confusion in our attitude and opposition to the nuclear deal.

Parliament should assert itself. The BJP is determined to bring in a resolution of Parliament with or without others.8217;8217;

That effort, if it materialises, could see through divisions in the BJP, one view being that a resolution should be moved as the nuclear deal 8216;8216;stifled8217;8217; India8217;s nuclear weapons programme, while the other being that nothing should be done in tandem with the Left.The proposed resolution would ask the government to list all the assurances the Prime Minister has made on the nuclear deal.

Prospects of the BJP and the Left sponsoring a resolution to set parameters for the government on the nuclear deal has been a cause for concern with the UPA.