The Hindu News Update Service

New Delhi, Aug. 12 (PTI): Seizing on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's daring the Left parties to withdraw support on the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal, the Opposition BJP on Saturday asked the government's outside supporters to pull the rug.

"This sudden display of courage by the Prime Minister is intriguing. This courage was never there even on a whimper when democracy got murdered in Goa recently, when there had been suicides by farmers," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad, whose party has sought a vote in Parliament on the nuclear agreement, said.

Prasad, who expressed the hope that Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee and the Rajya Sabha chairperson would allow a voting on the 123 agreement, said the Left was required to prove its "sincerity" and withdraw support from the government

"Hypocrisy and double standards have been legendary rights of communists right from the freedom movement. They now enjoy being in power, that too without accountability. But it's time for them to bite now," he remarked.

He alleged Singh had compromised national interests reportedly saying India's compliance with the 123 agreement would be monitored by member nations of Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG).

"The Prime Minister has been in the lead in compromising the country's interests. There are more than two dozen members of the Nuclear Supplier Group, Who will scrutinise compliance? Our sovereignty will be at the NSG's beck and call," he said.