We were not consulted on nuke deal: BJP

Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said that the party was not consulted before the finalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, as claimed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

New Delhi, Sep 2 : Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said that the party was not consulted before the finalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, as claimed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

"Regarding what Soniaji (Sonia Gandhi) has said that the Opposition was taken into confidence, I would say that giving information and coming to an agreement are two different things. Giving information does not mean that an agreement was reached," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters on sidelines of a party meeting.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi in an open letter published in party journal had supported Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the Indo-US nuclear deal, and said that the Congress-led UPA Government had done nothing in isolation and had kept the Left and the Opposition parties informed of every move.

BJP today reiterated its demand of setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to review the nuclear deal, which will end the global restrictions imposed on India in the field of nuclear commerce and technology.

"They are making a committee to solve a family matter between the ongress and the Communist. That is why the BJP has been demanding the Joint Parliamentary Committee," Javadekar said.

The Centre has constituted a high-level committee that would look into the concerns raised by the Left parties, particularly the implications of the US Hyde Act on the bilateral 123-agreement, that leads to the operationalisation of the nuclear deal.

The BJP, which recently softened its harsh opposition against the deal, today said that it would also review the nuclear deal if the party returns back to power.

Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, who also served as External Affairs Minister in the previous NDA regime, has said to a private news channel that if the deal is operationalised in its present form, then his party would renegotiate it when it would return to power.

"If the deal were to go through in its present form, which we had decided was unacceptable then obviously, it flows from it. Logically, that we'll reconsider and renegotiate," Sinha said.

The bilateral civilian nuclear energy cooperation deal with the US ran into rough weather after Left parties also joined with the opposition BJP in criticising the deal.

ANI