BJP softens stand on nuclear deal

Well into elections and battling to recapture power at the Centre, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has toned down its rhetoric against the Indo-US nuke deal to a pragmatic level.

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani admitted on Tuesday that the deal signed by the Manmohan Singh government with the Bush administration in 2008 “cannot be easily disregarded”. “I take cognisance of the fact that the government is a continuing matter. Treaty signed by an earlier government cannot be easily disregarded. This fact will be borne in mind and the government will take a decision,” he said.

Asked if his party favoured a review of the deal to meet the country’s long-term energy demands, Advani said, “I would not like to say anything on this as governance is a continuing matter. I would like to leave it to the new government. Our policy will be that the two major democracies of the world should have cordial relations.”

BJP vice-president and the face of its anti-nuke deal lobby Yashwant Sinha said, “If one reads what Advani ji has said, one would see that there is no substantive change in our stand,” he said referring to Advani’s interview to a national daily. “We had objected to forfeiting our right to conduct nuclear tests permanently and oversight of the US Congress on our nuclear programme. We stand by it,” he said.