New Delhi: In a rare convergence, BJP and CPI-M joined hands in Rajya Sabha to demand a resolution disapproving certain aspects of the Indo-US nuclear deal that led to noisy scenes and two adjournments of the House.
The issue rocked the House soon after it met for the day with BJP leader Sushma Swaraj seeking to know whether the government would move a resolution reflecting the sentiments of the House that goalposts on the deal, signed last year on July 18, should not be shifted.
She was supported by CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury who also wanted the government to come out with a resolution. "We are not going beyond what you said. There should be a resolution, motion, declaration or sentiment," he said.
Yechury contended that the goal-post set out in the July 18 agreement was clearly being shifted with IAEA inspections in perpetuity prior to finalisation of the legislation by the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The demand was made when the issue of the nuclear deal came up as the first question in the House during Question Hour.
While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was present in the House declined to respond to demands that he intervene, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said national interest was the sole guiding factor while deciding on the deal with the US.
Replying to a question by Maya Singh (BJP), Sharma said India was only discussing civilian nuclear energy cooperation with the US and there were no talks on country's strategic nuclear programme.
The separation of civilian and strategic nuclear facilities was decided in consultations with country's scientists and nuclear establishment, the minister said.
The separation would be in a phased manner "so that the strategic programme is not impacted or interrupted (and) India's credible nuclear deterrent is maintained," he said.
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Sharma said for the government, the statements made last year and in March this year in Parliament were sacrosanct and the guiding principle continues to be the July 18 Indo-US joint declaration on the nuclear issue.
India was "only continuing unilateral voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing," Sharma said.
It is government's position that the guiding principle for the resumption of civilian nuclear energy cooperation with the US must remain the framework of the July 18 joint statement and India's separation plan, he said.
"India is committed to continuing its unilateral voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing reiterated in the July 18 joint statement,", the minister said.
"I will like to make it clear that for the government its statements are sacrosanct. The supreme national interest is the sole guiding criterion. There is no departure," Sharma said.
The minister said unlike the previous NDA government, the UPA government has kept Parliament and the nation informed on the nuclear pact.
He charged the then BJP-led government with taking up discussion on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) without taking Parliament into confidence.
BJP members, led by former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, protested against minister's observations.
But BJP members were not satisfied and kept up a din demanding a resolution which was countered by treasury benches forcing Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat to adjourn the House for 30 minutes till 12 noon.
The voicing of the demand for a resolution by BJP and CPI-M comes a day after the Prime Minister reportedly told a CPI delegation yesterday that the Left parties joining hands with BJP on a Parliament resolution could spell problems for the Government's stability.
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