NEW DELHI: Confident of winning the trust vote set for July 22, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted yesterday that the nuclear deal with the US would not in any way “impinge” on India’s strategic program or compromise the country’s foreign policy.
“India will never allow any extraneous interference in the conduct of its independent foreign policy,” the prime minister said at a press conference yesterday.
He told journalists that his Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had the needed numbers to win the trust vote on which hangs the fate of Indo-US nuclear deal.
However, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deputy leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra was less optimistic. He said Singh’s government is set to lose the trust vote in Parliament July 22.
“The Congress is indulging in horse-trading by misusing money power. We are confident this government is not going to survive the trust vote,” Malhotra told reporters.
Giving emphasis to the deal being crucial for the country, Singh said it would end the nearly three-decade long “nuclear apartheid” against the country.
Without referring to his opponents’ claim that the deal bears little importance for the common Indian, Singh refuted this charge by saying: “The people of India understand the significance of the nuclear deal.” Singh highlighted opportunities for international cooperation in civil nuclear energy to address the challenge of energy security and high technology development.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards agreement will enable India to cooperate in civil nuclear energy development with all 45-member countries of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), including United States, Russia, France and China.
The government is likely to brief key members of the IAEA before the agency’s board of governors meeting, expected to take place on Aug. 1.
Once the board approves the agreement, the NSG will have to decide on amending its guidelines to allow global nuclear commerce with New Delhi.
India’s strategic program was “entirely outside the purview” of the safeguards agreement with Vienna-based IAEA and would therefore not affect the country’s strategic deterrence, Singh said.
For his part, Malhotra, said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will meet tomorrow to discuss a strategy to defeat the UPA government in the trust vote.
The meeting is likely to be attended by all 12 chief ministers of the NDA-ruled states, said BJP sources.
— With input from agencies
