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SP will go along with PM on nuclear deal

NEW DELHI: Setting at rest speculation on the Samajwadi Party’s “dilemma” over the latest controversy surrounding the India-U.S. nuclear agreement, general secretary Amar Singh on Friday said the party would go along with the Prime Minister’s assurance that there would be no compromise on the country’s sovereignty in case it conducted a nuclear test.

“We will take the final agreement at the Nuclear Suppliers Group as evidence. We do not believe in opposing for the sake of opposing,” Mr. Singh said at a ‘meet-the-press’ here.

When the SP consulted the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, he said India had conducted enough tests for nuclear capability, was already a nuclear weapon state and that no fresh tests were required. “We are awaiting the outcome of the NSG negotiations. We will take a call when there is a crisis,” Mr. Singh said. He was commenting on the controversy over the clause that the U.S. would end all nuclear cooperation if India carried out a nuclear test.

On the demand by the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party for a Parliament session to discuss the issue, he said, “Their opposition is for the sake of opposition.”

On the SP-Congress talks on seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Singh gave enough indications that a dozen-odd seats were all the party was willing to give the Congress.

According to him, the arrangement could be either on the lines of the 2004 Lok Sabha elections or the “Lalu Prasad formula in Bihar.” “If we go by the 2004 elections, then the Congress won 12 seats and if we go by the “Lalu formula” — which the Congress negotiators say is a “model” — then they should get eight seats. In 2004, out of 40 seats in Bihar, Mr. Prasad had given the Congress four seats. By that yardstick, in Uttar Pradesh with 80 seats, the Congress should get eight. However, since 12 are higher, they should get 12,” he said.

Mr. Singh, who was leading the talks with a Congress team led by Rahul Gandhi, said both parties had come together to face the challenge of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party. Even if the talks failed, the SP would not put up candidates in Rae Bareli “out of respect for Sonia Gandhi” and in Amethi “out of love for Rahul.”

On ticket for SP rebels Beni Prasad Verma and Raj Babbar, Mr. Singh said he had tried to correct his past vis-À-vis the Congress, and if they too tried to correct their past, they would think about the Congress accommodating them. The SP had sought a few seats in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, but it was yet to receive a response from the Congress leadership.

The SP leader said it was wrong to presume that his party had given conditional support to the United Progressive Alliance government. “We supported them at a crucial time and despite what everybody said, our support is unconditional.”

Denying that he had a “corporate agenda,” the SP leader said whenever he spoke about the windfall tax or spectrum misuse, there were attempts to “gag” him by saying he was favouring his corporate friends, which was not true.

On the ongoing probe into the cash-for-vote scam, he said he was not sure if the truth would ever come out. “The important thing is to identify the person from whom the currency notes originated and were given to Sanjeev Saxena.”

Asked about his support to the Trinamool in Singur, he said Mamata Banerjee said the Tatas needed 600 acres of land. They took 1,000 acres. Her point was that they should return 400 acres to the farmers from whom it was taken, which he supported.

On whether he could be a mediator between the Bachchan family and the Gandhis, Mr. Singh said their relationship dated back to the 1940s when he was not even born. “The spectrum of this relationship can be addressed only by the Bachchans and the Gandhi family. I don’t want to cross my limits and comment on it.”

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