Centre putting India's nuclear capability in US hands: BJP

Varanasi, Apr 30 (UNI) BJP today alleged the Manmohan Singh government was in the process of surrendering to US nuclear weapon capabilities developed in the NDA regime.

''A Union special secretary has gone to Washington in connection with the Indo-US nuclear deal. We fear that India's nuclear weapon capability developed in the time of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government will now be mortgaged in the hands of the Bush administration,'' former external affairs minister and senior BJP leader Yashwanat Sinha said at a news conference here.

''The nuclear capabilities developed by us during the Vajpayee regime will now be gifted to USA under the Indo-US nuke deal,'' he alleged.

''There is no US control over the nuclear weapon capabilities of both Pakistan and China, but the UPA is in process of mortgaging our capability in the US hands,'' he warned.

Further, Mr Sinha alleged the UPA government was conspiring to seize the property of farmers, who have defaulted in repaying loans of regional rural banks.

''The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets Act empowers the debt recovery tribunals to seize the property mortgaged as collateral security by industrialists, in case the concerned industrialist fails to repay the loan deliberately. But the NDA government excluded the indebted farmers from this clause,'' Mr Sinha also a former finance minister maintained.

He, however, alleged ''even while present Finance Minister P Chidambaram, on the floor of Rajya Sabha assured the members that indebted farmers will not be covered by the concerned clause, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has said the clause will be implemented in case of farmers, who have borrowed from regional rural banks.'' ''This clearly indicates contradictions within the central government.'' UNI