'No disarray in BJP on Indo-US N-deal'

New Delhi, Sep 1: Senior BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha today said there was no confusion within his party on the Indo-US nuclear deal and blamed a section of the media for distorting Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani's statement on the issue.

In an interview to CNN-IBN, Mr Sinha, one of the BJP's pointpersons on the nuclear issue, said confusion was created following Mr Advani's interview with a newspaper in Hyderabad in which he had said that, inter alia, India should renegotiate the deal with the US by amending its Atomic Energy Act 1962 to ensure further nuclear tests in the event of supreme national importance.

Mr Sinha said that Mr Advani had said the Hyde Act gave an impression of ''unequal treaty'' and thus India should renegotiate the deal with the US by amending its Atomic Energy Act, so as to ensure that the country could conduct tests in the future and also reprocess the spent fuel and retain the nuclear fuel and equipment it got under the deal.

Media reports had quoted Mr Advani as saying that he had no problem with the deal if the Hyde Act was renegotiated, leading to speculation about the BJP's stand on the issue.

Terming the deal ''unacceptable'', Mr Sinha said the BJP opposed the pact in its present form after consultations among the top party leaders, including Mr Advani.

''We are discussing Mr Advani's statement,'' he said.

He said the party was not opposed to the joint Indo-US naval exercise and other ventures with Washington but was only against the deal in its current form.

''We are not anti-American but are governed by India's interest,'' he added.

UNI