NEW DELHI, 8 November 2007 — The government’s hopes for a national consensus on the India-US nuclear deal suffered a setback yesterday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reiterating that the 123 pact should be “renegotiated” and “not hustled through.” The deal “compromises” the country’s long-term strategic programs, the opposition party said.
Despite a series of recent meetings of senior US envoys and key government figures with the BJP leaders, the main opposition party came out with a four-point statement, accusing the ruling coalition of making a “strategic blunder” by making the deal “an icon of India’s relations with the US.”
“We stand opposed to the deal because in our view it compromises long-term strategic programs of India, vital for country’s security, neither will it help meet our energy needs of the future,” said a party statement. BJP President Rajnath Singh and senior leaders L.K. Advani and Jaswant Singh signed the statement.
“Therefore, the BJP strongly recommends that this deal must be renegotiated and not hustled through as the UPA government is attempting to,” the statement said at the end of the core group meeting of the BJP attended by senior leaders. While rejecting the deal, the party underlined that its opposition to the deal does not detract from the party’s commitment to strengthening India-US relations. “The BJP has consistently stood for close India-US cooperation and strategic partnership as between two equal sovereigns,” the statement said.
