PM meets Atal, Advani and Jaswant over lunch

New Delhi, Jan 2 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today had a luncheon meeting with top BJP leaders, including his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee, with the focus on preparations to finalise the historic Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Cooperation deal.

Although the agenda of the meeting was not known, sources said the discussions figured around the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Other BJP leaders who were present at the lunch were Leader of the Opposition L K Advani, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra.

According to a release from the Prime Minister's Office, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee briefed the BJP leaders on the situation in India's neighbourhood and India's relations with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said it was a private invitation extended to the BJP leaders and the party had nothing to do with it. The invitation was extended to them sometime back.

When asked if the PM discussed with BJP leaders about the Indo-US Nuclear deal, Mr Javadekar said at least he was not aware of anything discussed over the lunch. He refused to comment on any further query.

UNI