Privilege notice on PM in Indo-US N-deal

New Delhi, Aug 16: The BJP today served a privilege notice against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for misleading the Lok Sabha on the 123 Nuclear Agreement with the US.

The notice for the motion of privilege has been submitted to Speaker Somnath Chatterjee by BJP Deputy Leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

The BJP has alleged that the Prime Minister had misled the House through his suo-moto statement on the Indo-US Nuclear Energy Cooperation on Tuesday in which Dr Singh said India holds the right to conduct nuclear tests and it will not affect the bilateral deal. ''The Agreement does not in any way affect India's right to undertake future nuclear tests, if it is necessary in India's national interest,'' the PM said in his statement.

However, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormach in Washington disputed the statement saying that the Indo-US nuclear agreement would be terminated if New Delhi tested a nucear device.

The NDA, including BJP, had given four notices for a discussion under rule 184, which entails voting, on the nuclear deal.

UNI