BJP says it can not accept n-deal; demands setting up of JPC

By NNN-PTI

New Delhi : Calling the civil nuclear deal with the US as an “attack on nuclear sovereignty and foreign policy options”, the BJP today said it cannot accept this agreement and demanded setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to examine it.


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The main opposition party also asked the government to suspend all further action on the civil nuclear deal till the JPC submits its report which secures the approval of Parliament.

BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie also demanded “appropriate amendments” to the Constitution and laws to ensure that all agreements which affect the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security shall be ratified by Parliament.

Shourie and Sinha said these were the party’s preliminary comments and it would study the draft 123 agreement, which was made public yesterday, in detail.

Noting that the BJP had been opposing the nuclear deal “from the day it was proposed”, Sinha said the government has been “spreading canards” that the deal recognises India as a de-facto nuclear power.

“The inspections that India would be subject to would be equivalent to that applicable to the non-nuclear weapons states,” Shourie said.

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