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French envoy: BJP’s opposition surprising

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont on Saturday met Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh here to lobby for the India-U.S. nuclear deal.

Authoritative BJP sources said Mr. Bonnafont told Mr. Singh that both Pakistan and China “in their own way” were lobbying with western countries against the deal being offered to India. He expressed surprise at the BJP opposing the deal.

Mr. Singh told him that the government had not taken political parties into confidence, nor did it properly brief the Opposition parties. “Politically it became difficult for the BJP” to support the deal.

The envoy is understood to have told Mr. Singh that their perception of the deal capping India’s military programme was misplaced. It left more than enough room for India to test in the event of Pakistan, China or some other country testing if it affected India’s security. Mr. Bonnafont further explained, the BJP sources said, that India was under international sanctions following Pokhran II, and in the worst-case scenario, sanctions would be imposed again. He is also believed to have pointed out that many American legislators in fact felt that U.S. had given away too much.

At the hour-long meeting, Mr. Singh said the deal failed to address the BJP’s strategic concerns although the party favoured closer strategic alliance with the U.S.

The future political scenario, including the next general elections, also came up for discussions.

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