Shiv Shankar Menon tries to win over BJP on nuke liability bill

Prime minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington at the month-end seems to have added urgency to the resolution of the deadlock over the nuclear liability bill, and flexibility may be offered in the liability of operators, now fixed at only Rs500 crore.

The government is considering keeping the liability figure open to challenge in Indian courts, if damage during a nuclear accident is more than the liability figure.

The bill, the passage of which will free up over $10 billion worth of nuclear commerce in the country, is stuck following consolidated opposition to it from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left.
National security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon on Wednesday met senior BJP leaders to persuade them over the bill, which was withdrawn by the government on Monday after protests. Passage of a bill is no problem but with the opposition in a majority in the Rajya Sabha, the government has been treading softly.

Sources said Menon met Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha and Murli Manohar Joshi at Parliament House. But a party spokesperson said they stuck to their guns that they would not permit passage of the bill in its present form.

Sources confirmed that the government has been moving all resources to convince the BJP, which they felt would be more amenable to persuasion than the Left, to support the bill. Sushma Swaraj was called up by the prime minister on Sunday, before the bill was withdrawn from the Lok Sabha.

“At the meeting, Sinha listed out the party’s objections to the bill, including the fact that there appears to be no provision to define damage from sabotage or a terror attack. The party objected to outside courts imposing themselves on mishaps on Indian soil, apart from the meagre cap on liability of private parties involved in setting up the plant,” said a source present at the meeting.

With the PM anxious to go armed with an assurance from the opposition on its help in clearing the bill, the government’s energies are likely to be engaged in this for some time to come.