PMO a trading counter: BJP

With just three days to go for the 8220;moment of truth8221; for the UPA Government, BJP national spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad on Saturday accused the PMO of becoming a 8220;bargaining counter for corporate houses exhibiting a great devaluation of the high office8221;.

Senior BJP leader and the former Union minister told The Sunday Express that the UPA Government must stop all proceedings towards the IAEA agreement till it faced the no-confidence motion on July 22. He said: 8220;What is happening in Delhi is a sad reflection on contemporary politics. While people like Morarji Desai and A B Vajpayee did not hesitate to sacrifice their Governments to uphold high moral values, the present Government has been doing just the opposite.8221;

Prasad asked the PM to clarify if the PMO pressed for some consideration to a big corporate house recently on the request of an SP leader or not. The UPA, he said, should also tell the country if the Hyde Act would apply after the nuclear deal or not. 8220;The deal, in its present form, is not acceptable to us as it would disallow India from conducting further nuclear tests with the Hyde Act enforcing so,8221; he added.