Yechury warns UPA to stall Nuke deal with the US

Shimla, Sep 15 (UNI) CPM politburo member and Rajya Sabha member Sitaram Yechury today warned the Congress-led UPA Government to stall the implementation of the nuclear deal with the US, saying it was against the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the alliance.

''Communist parties do not have any objection to coordinate with the US. However, in process of making US a strategic partner of the country, the Indian Government should ensure that other countries, whose importance is equally required for the development of different sectors of the country as the US, should not be ignored,'' Mr Yechury said while addressing students of the Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) here.

He claimed that the nuclear agreement was against the country's interest in the view that the fuel supplies were conditional to abiding by the American law.

Mr Yechury elucidated that in case of any dispute, the 123 agreement of the US with Japan provided for arbitration by a third party and the one with China would be governed by international law, whereas our agreement would come within the jurisdiction of the Hyde Act, a US legislation.

He demanded that the government should review the deal besides rethinking whether nuclear energy was the only best alternative for the country when it had other sources of energy, which were much less expensive than the nuclear energy.

Commenting on the BJP's stand on the deal, the CPM leader said the party was continuously varying its statements in and outside Parliament.

Earlier, talking to mediapersons here, Mr Yechury had said that by agreeing to put a cap on the nation's nuclear weapon development programme as per the agreement, the Manmohan Singh Government would only be strengthening the hands of China and Pakistan.

''The UPA Government can go ahead on the 123 agreement at its own peril. We are opposing the agreement on the grounds that it is not at par with the one singed with Japan or China,'' he warned.

Reiterating the party's stand on the issue, he said the CMP, agreed upon by the Left parties and the UPA Government, never mentioned about the formation of any strategic alliance with the US.

''The CMP only talks of pursuing an independent foreign policy, which should be followed,'' he stressed.

He also criticised the BJP for its ''hypocritical'' stand on the nuclear issue by shying away from a debate in Parliament by stalling proceedings and not allowing other important discussions on price rise, Sachhar Committee and the pending unorganised labour bill to be tabled in the House.

''Under the constitution, where an international treaty is kept outside the purview of a vote in Parliament, seeking a Joint Parliamentary Committee on it is an hypocritical stance of the BJP,'' he said.

Commenting on the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court by the Union government with regard to the Ram Setu, Mr Yechury said he had supported the government's move to withdraw the document that denied the existence of Lord Ram.

Clearly, the Archaeological Survey of India had overstepped its jurisdiction by raising the issue of existence or non-existence of Lord Ram whereas it was only asked to reply whether Ram Sethu was a man-made structure or not, he added.

UNI