By NNN-PTI
New Delhi : Reconciliation efforts on the nuclear deal received a setback due to the US statement that the agreement can be terminated if India conducts an atomic test, with Left parties accusing the government of concealing facts and insisting that it be put on hold.
Left parties, which are providing crucial support to the ruling coalition, along with opposition NDA and UNPA created an uproar in Parliament over the issue forcing the government to assert again that India had not lost the “sovereign” right to conduct a nuclear test.
The pandemonium caused by the Left and opposition members led to adjournment of both Houses of Parliament without transacting any business.
The Left parties told the government not to take their support for granted, a day before CPI(M) holds its polit bureau meeting to decide on its future course.
Amidst a walkout by Left parties, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made a forceful assertion in the Lok Sabha that agreement with the US does not put any restraint on India.
“There is nothing in the bilateral agreement that would tie the hands of a future government or legally constrain its options. A decision to undertake a future nuclear test would be India’s sovereign decision, resting solely with the government of India,” Mukherjee said in a brief statement after Left and the Opposition members raked up the issue.
Clearly dissatisfied by Mukherjee’s assertion, CPI leaders Gurudas Dasgupta and D Raja alleged that statements by the government and US administration were contradictory, indicating that some facts were being concealed.