Patna: Former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Sunday took strong exception to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's reported decision to invite Muslim scholars and intellectuals to a meeting with him to explain the nuclear deal clinched with the U.S..

"The decision is highly objectionable. Today he has convened a meeting of Muslims, tomorrow he will call the Christians and Parsis to explain if another agreement is signed," Mr. Sinha told reporters here. He said the deal was "tilted in favour of America" and the "agreement will not be complete unless it is ratified by the American Congress, International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group."

The Prime Minister has disregarded the national consensus while signing the nuclear agreement as the country's opinion was sharply divided. Besides, the Prime Minister did not consult the political parties before clinching the deal, he said adding, however, that he was reacting in his individual capacity and not as a party spokesman.

Mr. Sinha said that the Prime Minister would have to explain to the nation that the independence of the country's nuclear programme and the principle of reciprocity had been maintained. The question of reciprocity is essential, as America is known for backtracking on its commitments, he said citing the example of discontinuing the fuel supply to Tarapur nuclear reactor after the nuclear test in 1974.

Stating that his Government would not have signed the deal in its present form, he said the Government should have waited till India was given the status of a `nuclear weapons state.'

"India should not have agreed to the nuclear deal with the kind of conditions imposed on us. The UPA Government acted in haste," he told BBC's Aapki Baat BBC Ke Saath. — PTI, UNI

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