Joshi demands PM's clarification on nuke deal

Kolkata, Mar 5(UNI) BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi today demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must disclose in Parliament the details of the India-US nuke deal and convince the people that the country had not made any compromise on its sovereignty and internal security.

''The Prime Minister must come clean on the issue in Parliament to convince the nation that there was no compromise on nuclear energy security, strategic nuclear security and the country's sovereignty...we must know whether we have gained out of this deal,'' Mr Joshi said while addressing a press conference.

He said though the Prime Minister had said in July that the deal would be in light of the joint statement made in Washington, there were certain discrepancies between what ''India says and what the US says''.

''While the PM said that the deal would accord India the same status enjoyed by the five nuclear majors, it appears that the entire civilian nuclear programme will come under the inspection of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and as a result we will not be able to maintain our role as a credible nuclear deterrent state,'' he said.

Mr Joshi further added the policy of the UPA Government led the country to a situation in which India would be depending on imported enriched uranium which could be stopped any moment.

''As a result, our entire nuclear programme will be jeopardised,'' he said.

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