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UPA committed to deal: Sibal

BANGALORE: Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal on Tuesday defended the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal and said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government is committed to it but will take into account the Left concerns before operationalising it.

Addressing presspersons at the Congress Bhavan here, Mr. Sibal said: “No Government worth its salt can afford to renege on an international treaty. The bilateral deal is a solemn agreement entered into by the Union Government with the U.S.” No political consensus had ever been sought before signing an international treaty but the deal had been discussed in Parliament at length, he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had given several assurances in Parliament on the deal. He urged the Left to debate substantive issues instead of running a personalised attack against the Prime Minister. The UPA Government had not violated the Common Minimum Programme as alleged by the Left parties, Mr. Sibal claimed.

To a question whether the Government would stick to the deal despite opposition from its partners, he said: “We want to run the government full term and it depends on them.” However, Mr. Sibal said the government was confident about convincing the Left about it. “The leaders of the Left are reasonable men,” he said, adding that there was a need to implement the nuclear deal to meet the country’s energy needs.

On the controversial Ramar Sethu, Mr. Sibal said there was no scientific evidence that it was a man made structure but an individual’s belief of associating it with Lord Ram must be respected.

“If you ask me is there any scientific basis to prove that the Ramar Sethu is a man made structure, then the answer is no. If you believe that Ramar Sethu is associated with Lord Ram then I respect that belief,” he said, while replying to a question whether he believed in the concept as the Science and Technology Minister.

Asked whether he supported the demand for Union Minister for Culture Ambika Soni to resign over the affidavit fiasco, Mr. Sibal declined to comment.

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