The government got a boost during the debate when UPA allies such as the DMK and RJD (the NCP did not speak at all) came out in support of the deal.
NEW DELHI: The debate on the India-US nuclear deal in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday has worked to the advantage of the UPA government as none of the parties, barring the BJP, tried to take on the Centre over the deal. A softened stand on the deal taken by some of the parties have put a question mark over the Left claim that the “sense of the House” is against the 123 Agreement.
The government got a boost during the debate when UPA allies such as the DMK and RJD (the NCP did not speak at all) came out in support of the deal.
The Left was counting on these parties to raise objections. The BJP slammed the Left for ‘surrendering’ to the Congress despite making ‘noises’ over it and said if voted back to power, it would re-negotiate the deal. If that didn’t happen, it would scrap it.
“The Congress has surrendered to the US on the nuke deal and the communist parties have surrendered to the Congress though they had made so much noise over it. It was a trade-off between the Congress and the communists over Nandigram and the nuke deal,” senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said.
Speculation is rife over why the TDP, another staunch opponent of the deal, chose to maintain a silence. Party sources said their leader in the House K Yerran Naidu was in his constituency due to local body elections, while the other senior leader Dr Jagannathan had a personal engagement.
The diluted stand taken by the Samajwadi Party, the BJD and the BSP has led to talk that government strategists managed to convince them. SP leader Shahid Siddiqui, however, denied that his party had toned down its anti-nuke stand.
While government circles interpret the softened stand of these parties as indicating they are not against the deal, the Left still claims the overwhelming mood of the House does not favour the nuclear agreement.
A senior cabinet minister said more than half the Lok Sabha members are not against the deal so “the inner sense of the House” is for the deal.
CPI leader in the House Gurudas Dasgupta said “the government stand is unacceptable to us. It seems the government has no intention of taking the sense of the House. It is clear that it has no majority in the House.”
Asked about the “softening” of stand by the Samajwadi Party on the issue, he maintained that the SP had opposed the deal during the discussion.
But CPI(M) leader Roopchand Pal admitted “the SP took a neutral position”.
He claimed though that with the entire Left Bloc and the BJP opposing the deal, the deal had little support in the House.
“Look at the number of parties which opposed the deal during the debate and their numbers in the Lok Sabha. The government is not in a majority on this issue,” Dasgupta said. “We certainly have the edge,” CPI(M) floor leader Basudeb Acharia said.
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