Now, govt talks tough with BJP

Says there will be no JPC to discuss the nuclear deal

NEW DELHI: A day after the compromise with the Left parties, the government talked tough on Friday and categorically rejected the BJP's demand to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee to vet the Nuclear Agreement signed with the US. "No international treaty has ever been brought before parliament. 

 There is no constitutional provision for something like this and let me make it clear that there will be no JPC or a parliamentary committee" External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

Having managed to placate the Left, the Government struck an uncompromising attitude towards the Opposition. Responding to Opposition MPs in parliament, Mukherjee said the committee envisaged by the UPA and the left parties was "an internal arrangement between the allies and there is no place for anybody else 'in it. He was supported by Lalu Yadav. "How can you ask to be included in the committee, you are not supporting the government," Lalu mocked.

Sitaram Yechury made it clear that the proposed mechanism was an arrangement arrived at outside parliament and only between the allies. "This is an arrangement to sort out issues between the government and its supporting party."