NEW DELHI, 4 August 2006 — The leading opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party and Communist Party of India (Marxist) yesterday jointly took the Congress-led government to task over the Indo-US nuclear deal. When the upper house (Rajya Sabha) assembled for the day, senior leader Sushma Swaraj (Bharatiya Janata Party) demanded a resolution disapproving of certain aspects of the deal.
Supporting Swaraj, Sitaram Yechury of Communist Party of India-Marxist said that it was imperative for the government to come out with a resolution as the goalposts decided in the July 18 Indo-US declaration were being shifted (in Washington).
“The prime minister should stand by his words on the nuclear deal. There should be a consensus within the Cabinet on the proposal, declaration or statement, so that the deal is in the interest of India,” Yechury said.
Stormy debate over the issue rocked the House leading to noisy scenes and two adjournments. Though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was present in the House, he declined to intervene. Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma tried assuring the legislators that statements made last year and in March this year in Parliament were sacrosanct.
“The government has repeatedly assured the Parliament that we are committed to undertake civilian nuclear corporation with USA and with other international partners strictly within the templates of joint structure and separation plan which has been filed before both houses of the Parliament on July 1,” Sharma.
Besides, he emphasized that the guiding principle continues to be the July 18 Indo-US joint declaration on the nuclear issue. Regarding the demand for a resolution on the deal, in a written reply, Sharma said that the “US Congress is yet to pass the final resolution” on the deal. “It would be premature to pass judgment on the legislation until its final text is known,” Sharma said.
Coming together of BJP and CPI(M) also carries a warning signal for Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. That is the Congress should not take the CPI(M)’s external support for granted. However, prospects of left bloc joining hands with right-wing BJP to push UPA out of power may be ruled out for the moment. On this, Gurudas Dasgupta of Communist Party of India said yesterday that CPI is not going to join hands with BJP.
The preceding day the issue had been discussed during a meeting of CPI delegation with Manmohan. “The prime minister said that if you go with BJP, then that will be end of the day (for the government),” Dasgupta told reporters yesterday.
