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BJP to target defence deal with U.S.

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party is all set to strongly criticise the Government for the framework agreement signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the United States President George Bush on the nuclear issue when the subject is discussed in Parliament next week.

Although at the formal level the fine tuning of the BJP and NDA response will be done on Monday at a meeting of NDA leaders before Parliament convenes for the day, at an informal meeting on Saturday the BJP has already decided that it will "stick to" the line of criticism to which the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had publicly committed the NDA through his statement of July 20.

A senior BJP leader who attended Saturday's meeting disclosed that the party would join issue with the Government on the `commitment' made by India to separate civilian and military nuclear facilities on the ground that this would be difficult, if not impossible, and certainly it would be hugely expensive. Mr. Vajpayee, Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj attended that meeting.

The BJP is not unduly worried about the Government turning the tables on it by pointing out that Dr. Singh achieved exactly what the Vajpayee Government had wanted to but failed to achieve.

In the Lok Sabha, Mr. Vajpayee will take on Dr. Singh, with Mr. Advani speaking just before the Prime Minister gives his reply. In the Rajya Sabha Ms. Swaraj will initiate the discussion while Mr. Jaswant Singh will speak before Dr. Singh winds up the discussion.

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