PM hid facts in Nuclear Deal speech: VP Singh

Lucknow, Aug 14 (UNI) Former Prime Minister and Jan Morcha leader Vishwanath Pratap Singh today charged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with hiding facts in his statement on the nuclear deal made in Parliament yesterday.

Addressing reporters here, the former Prime Minister said the Prime Minister hid important facts in his statement. ''The fact is that the Prime Minister is expressing the will of the cabinet...Parliament's greater will cannot be ignored in such issues.'' He said ignoring the will of Parliament was not a good sign for parliamentary democracy. ''This would lead the parliamentary form of democracy redundant.'' He also alleged that the 123 Agreement was heavily in favour of the United States. ''India only plays a consultative role in the deal...if the deal gets cancelled, the New Delhi will have to return the entire nuclear fuel processing material to the US,'' he added.

In reply to a poser, he said the system of contract farming should be decided by an all-party meeting. ''After removing the loopholes, the entire policy should be re-implemented,'' he said.

UNI