By Manish Chand, IANS
On Board Air India One : Ahead of the debate on the India-US nuclear deal in parliament, the Manmohan Singh government Sunday sought to assuage the opposition’s anxieties, saying that the deal’s enabling 123 pact can enhance the country’s strategic programme but will not diminish it in anyway.
National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan said that he along with Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar met senior leaders of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh and Jaswant Singh, and addressed their apprehensions on the impact of the nuclear deal on India’s strategic programme.
“We explained in great detail, more than what we did before, how the 123 agreement will not affect the country’s strategic programme,” he told reporters aboard the prime minister’s special aircraft on way to Moscow.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later arrived in Moscow on a two-day visit for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“There are some aspects of the 123 agreement that can enhance India’s strategic programme,” Narayanan stressed.
“We are still hopeful that our explanation will help in addressing the BJP’ concerns. They have nothing to fear as far as the strategic programme is concerned.”
The government is still hopeful of mobilising all-party consensus on the nuclear deal, which is being opposed by its Leftist allies as well as the BJP. The BJP wants the nuclear deal to be renegotiated as it thinks it in its present form could affect India’s nuclear weapons programme and undermine its strategic autonomy.
Narayanan’s comments comes a day after Manmohan Singh along with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met senior communist leaders Prakash Karat and A.B. Bardhan.
In the meeting, the government and the Left parties agreed to have a discussion on the nuclear deal in the winter session of parliament beginning Nov 15.
While the BJP wants a debate on the nuclear deal with voting, the Left parties have pressed for a “sense of the house” resolution but have clarified that the debate could take place without voting.