By IANS
New Delhi : The United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) said Thursday it would oppose the India-US civilian nuclear deal in parliament and press for a vote on the pact during the monsoon session beginning Friday.
A meeting of the UNPA here Thursday to chalk out its strategy for the session decided to raise the issue under rule 184 of parliament’s conduct rules that entails voting.
Significantly, a key UNPA leader, former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalitha of the AIADMK, did not attend the meeting of the alliance here apparently because she was “unwell”. Rajya Sabha MP V. Maitreyan filled in for her.
The Left parties that support the Congress-led government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are also opposed to the nuclear deal and have said they would raise the issue under rule 193 that does not entail voting.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also said it would demand a discussion and vote in parliament on the nuclear deal.
Jayalalitha apart, the majority of UNPA leaders were present at Thursday’s meeting.
They included Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, along with party spokesman Amar Singh and former Karnataka chief minister S. Bangarappa; Telugu Desam Party (TDP) head N. Chandrababu Naidu; Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) president Om Prakash Chautala, and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader Brindaban Goswami.
Yadav attacked the government for having “surrendered Indian interests” in the nuclear deal.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Yadav said the prime minister’s statement aimed at critics of the nuclear deal “hides a lot. We have no foreign policy. Even the Congress does not know what is our foreign policy. We will go to parliament and the people.”