BJP denies complimenting government over nuclear deal

By IANS

New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party Friday said it continued to have concerns about the 123 bilateral civil nuclear cooperation between India and the US and rejected a news report that it had praised the government for a "superb job" in clinching the deal.


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"We reject this news report attributed to sources. It's sheer disinformation. Our concerns over the agreement remain in place," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said when asked to comment on a report in a leading English daily.

"We have to first see the text before coming out with our views on the agreement," he said.

Instead, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee along with other BJP leaders like Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha had expressed apprehensions over the pact when they met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday over the nuclear deal.

In his meeting with BJP leaders, Manmohan Singh had assured them that the pact would not impact India's strategic programme.

"Our apprehensions have not been allayed completely," Yashwant Sinha, a former external affairs minister, had said after the meeting at the prime minister's 7, Race Course Road, residence.

"We have no reason to distrust him, but we would like to first go through the text of the draft agreement," he said.

A report in The Indian Express, published Friday, quoted Jaswant Singh as complimenting Indian negotiators for a "superb job" in clinching a path-breaking agreement.

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