Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: While maintaining that the party was not against having close relations and cooperation with the U.S., the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday criticised the Left parties for what it called was their “double standards” in opposing the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement.
The party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that the Left should keep the country’s strategic and nuclear sovereignty uppermost in its mind.
While lauding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s “sudden display of courage” in taking on the Left, Mr. Prasad said that Dr. Singh had not displayed such courage earlier.
He was referring to Dr. Singh’s interview to a daily on Saturday, where he was quoted as having said that the nuclear deal with the U.S. was not renegotiable.
Mr. Prasad said the 123 agreement was a “complicated one” and the BJP feared that the country’s interests would be mortgaged to the nuclear supplies group.
