BJP denies discussing Indo-US nuclear deal with PM

New Delhi, Jan 3 (UNI) The Bharatiya Janata Party has taken strong exception to the way yesterday's meeting with the party's top leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani, was sought to be projected by the Prime Minister's Office and asserted there was absolutely no discussion on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

BJP sources denied the leaders had discussed the issue in yesterday's meeting and said the party had conveyed its 'displeasure' to the Foreign Secretary on the way the PMO had briefed the media.

The breifing gave an impression the BJP was satisfied on the Indo-US nuclear deal. The Indo-US nuclear issue did not figure in the meeting at all and the party is unhappy about it," BJP Parliamentary Party leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra confirmed to UNI.

Besides Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and former National Secretary Advisor Brajesh Mishra had attended the meeting.

There was an understanding that the briefings be done by the PMO and there was no question of the BJP being satisfied about the Indo-US nuclear deal as the issue did not figure in the meeting at all, sources said. The issues discussed were the situation in neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan, party sources added.

UNI