PM should interevene in Nuke debate in RS : Sushma

New Delhi, Dec 3: Demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reply to the debate in the Rajya Sabha over the Indo-US nuclear deal tomorrow, the BJP today said it expected Dr Singh to at least intervene ''if he does not want to reply''. Articulating her party's views, BJP Deputy Leader in the Upper House Sushma Swaraj said Dr Singh had kept himself away from taking part in the deliberations over the Indo-US nuclear deal in the Lok Sabha. The issue was kept hanging in balance on the pretext that the Prime Minister was away on foreign tours.

''The Prime Minister seem to keep off from the issue in the Lok Sabha but he should at least intervene, if he does not want to reply to the debate. But he can't remain a 'silent spectator' as he did in the lower House,'' she said.

When a reporter brought to her notice that the Prime Minister had intervened in the lower House, she said she would not regard one sentence remark as an intervention.

She also took exception to the new convention set by the Prime Minister who went away thrice during the Parliament session, visiting Russia, Singapore and Uganda. ''Normally when the PM is out of the country during the Parliament Session, it is followed by a statement in the House on the visit. This time no such statement was forthcoming and he should take Parliament into confidence,'' she said.

Whenever a similar occasion arose during the six-year NDA regime, it was always followed by a statement in Parliament, she added.

UNI