PM must demit office on nuclear deal issue, demands Jaya

Chennai, Aug 19 (UNI)The opposition AIADMK today demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must ''demit office'' as he had ''subverted India's sovereignty by signing a one-sided nuclear deal'' with the United States.

In a strongly worded statement here, AIADMK General Secretary and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa alleged that the Prime Minister had concluded an agreement which greatly impinges on the country's sovereignty and without any concern for protecting India's interests.

She charged that with only about 150 members in the Lok Sabha, the Congress cannot claim to have a majority and ''had no legitimate right to push the nation into such a deal.'' ''Having done this, the Prime Minister was insisting upon the agreement being operationalised'', she noted.

She charged that his statement in both Houses of Parliament on August 13 were untruths like the one that the agreement was not applicable to research relating to military operations. But within a day of the statement, an American spokesperson clearly replied that if India attempts to conduct atomic tests, the deal would be revoked.

She also claimed that although the agreement had been signed under Section 123 of the United States Atomic Energy Act, it was being stated that other sectons of the Act would also be applicable to the agreement. But, so far, the details pertaining to the other sections of the Act had not been disclosed to the people, she charged.

The Prime Minister was ''exercising his might'' and foisting an agreement on the country, in spite of the pitfalls in it, she added.

UNI