Swamy flays Left's reservations on nuke deal

Chennai, Aug 8: Janata Party President Subramaniam Swamy today flayed the Left parties for opposing the Indo-US nuclear pact on the ground that the ''deal means greater proximity of India with the US.''

In a statement here, he said ''taking the Left front's argument to its logical conclusion it means that even if the US gave everything we wanted in the nuclear deal on a platter, the Left parties would oppose because it would make India pro-US.'' He said the argument of the Left parties against the Nuclear cooperation agreement on this ground was abusurdly contorted and convoluted.

However, his criticism of the Left would not mean he supported the new 123 draft, Dr Swamy said adding he opposed any nuclear deal with the US until the US formally recognised India as a nuclear power entitled to the privileges of such a nation under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

UNI