The BJP on Thursday rejected external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee?s clarification in the Lok Sabha? made in the context of a statement issued by the US state department.
The party also accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of breach of privilege over his statement in Parliament on the Indo-US nuclear pact and served notices in this regard in both Houses of Parliament. Dubbing Mukherjee?s statement as a ?bundle of untruths?, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said the deal was aimed at capping, rolling back and eliminating India?s strategic nuclear programme. ?Unlike the 123 agreement the US signed with China, the bilateral deal with India will be governed by the US national laws, such as the Atomic Energy Act 1954, NPT Act 1978 and the Hyde Act 2006,? he said. Meanwhile, deputy leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Vijay Kumar Malhotra served the notice for the motion of privilege against the Prime Minister to Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. A similar notice was also served in Rajya Sabha.
In the motions the party alleged that the Prime Minister had misled the House through his suo motu statement on the nuclear deal on Tuesday that India continued to hold the right to conduct nuclear tests.
The BJP said that US state department spokesman Sean McCormack?s statement was in clear contradiction to the Prime Minister?s assertion. McCormack had said that ?The proposed 123 agreement has provisions n it an event of a nuclaer test by India all nuclear cooperation would be terminated.?