Pranab dismisses Left's claim on Nuke deal

Kolkata, Oct 27 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today refuted out the Left Front claim that Parliament was ignored and reiterated that eight rounds of discussions took place on the Nuke Deal in the House.

Talking to newspersons here, he said, ''I have never seen in my entire political career that there were so many rounds of discussions on any matter like this time. Earlier, there were three rounds of discussions on GATT in Parliament.'' The Left Front charge of ignoring Parliament was totally ''uncalled for and unfounded'', he said and also ruled out the charge that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had violated his rights.

''Speaker Somnath Chatterjee also did not accord any credence to those charges, Mr Mukherjee observed.

''They wanted a debate on the deal with the US and we went for it. We won the confidence motion in the House on July 22. The Prime Minister went to IAEA on September 6, and the question of violating the agreement did not arise at all,'' the External Affairs Minister asserted.

''We also told the Left that if the government was reduced to minority, we will go for election, but not to the IAEA,'' he noted.

''The Left has developed a US phobia,'' Mr Mukherrjee opined.

''The agreement is meant for peaceful purpose, but if situation demands, we will definitely go for bombs,'' he informed.

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