N Deal not sole touchstone of Indo-US ties

New Delhi, Oct 8: BJP spokesperson and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said the momentum of Indo-US relationship should not be judged solely on the touchstone of success or failure of the nuclear deal.

Mr Shankar told US thinktanks in Washington that beyond the deal, there was a whole range of areas which warrant a deep understanding and close cooperation in the interest of peace and development.

'' Some of these are counter terror measures, anti-drug trafficking, business and trade, democracy and freedom and establishment of peace in Asia,'' he said.

He said the Indo-US relationship had acquired a new dimension and dynamics of its own, in the creation of which the previous NDA government led by Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee had played a crucial role.

However, Mr Prasad made it clear to US that the Waiver Act, as envisaged, contains very sweeping and overpowering provisions which should have the effect of placing India's nuclear autonomy and sovereignty under constant monatoring of the US administration and the Congress, a position totally unacceptable to the BJP and India at a large.

The BJP spokesperson, who is currently visiting US as part of Indian delegation to the 61st UN General Assembly, was invited to Washington DC by some well-know US think tanks to have a perspective on Indo-US relations, a release from Mr Prasad's office said here.

Among others, he had far reaching exvchange of views with Mr Walter Andersen, Associate Director of South Asian Studies at John Hopkins University along with Ms Lisa A Curtis, senior research fellow, Asian Studies Centre at the Heritage Foundation, Mr Steven G Ghitelman, South Asian Analyst-US State Department and Mr Daniel Markey of Policy Planning Staff--Office of the secretary, US State Department.

UNI