PM must come clean on meet with US Senator: BJP

New Delhi, Dec 7: Expressing serious concern about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 'lobbying' for an 'Agreement' on Indo-US Nuclear deal with the US Senate Majority Leader, the BJP today said it wondered why the PM was engaged in such ''demeaning conduct.'' Stating that the issue was of ''high national importance'', Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh felt that the PM, setting aside '''status, protocol and dignity'' to talk to the US Senator who has just a few weeks in office, should discuss the matter informally with the leaders of Opposition in Parliament and take the country into confidence on the 'nature of crisis' that compelled him to hold such parleys.

He noted that the Indian Embassy in Washington was totally ignorant about the text of the agreement.

Referring to the Prime Minister's address in Parliament on August 17, Mr Singh said the PM had enunciated India's ''final and formal'' position on this issue and these commitments were the policy pronouncements. They superceded earlier statements made on July 18, 2005 and March 26, 2006. ''We want to know if those Parliamentary commitments have now been abandoned?'' he sought to know.

He said it was not 'language' that needed clarification but the Government's intent which required ''explicit restating''. The US position was varied and covered all aspects, he said, noting President George Bush had stated that the Senate vote affirmed 'strategic partnership and shared values' with India, while the US Secretary of State was repeatedly asserting that the Agreement with India was for advancing the cause of ''non-proliferation''.

However, the PM had spoken of this Agrement of being only for 'emergy purposes' and the US business lobby had welcomed it as opening up of Indian nuclear markets to sales worth thousands of billions of dollars'. ''Which of these aspects is the 'Agreement' about? This is why the GOI must categorically state what was being negotiated, and what are the complexities involved,'' he queried.

The BJP leader said if the Text of the 'Agreement' was at variance with the PM's August 16 assurance, than the PM should discuss the issue with Opposition leaders and take the nation into confidence.

Mr Jaswant Singh said there were some more things that needs to be clarified by the GOI -- the 123 Bill: Concepts and Principles are not yet reconciled and that the Norwegian Ambassador, during the meeting of the NSG in Vienna had sent a detailed list of objections to Delhi about India-US Nuclear Agreement. The Government must share full details and explain. It should also provide the status of International Atomic Energy Agency Addition Protocol and safeguards negotiations agreement, he said, calling on the government to stay with substance of August 17, 2006 statement in Parliament and not mislead the country by engaging obscuring semantic differences between ''reporting requirements'' and ''Presidential determination''.

He said the objective of a ''strategic partnership'' with the US was a 'desirable goal' but the Centre should understand that this 'partnership' was between two equal and sovereign nations and India should not have a subservient decision making (implementation) or has a subsidiary role to US or any other country.

UNI