NDA Government was ready to sign CTBT: MoS Home

Jaipur, Aug 19 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Home Shakeel Ahmed today condemned the BJP for opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal process and said that previous NDA Government led by the saffron party was ready to sign the deal with much softer conditions and was even ready to sign CTBT and NPT.

Talking to reporters here, Mr Ahmed also assured that UPA Government would neither sign Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty(CTBT) nor Non-Proliferation Treaty and it would not give up on national interests while signing the nuke deal.

The Minister, who came here to deliver a lecture on ''Benefits of Nuclear Deal'' at a workshop at the Congress headquarters, said that then NDA Government was ready to sign the deal with benefits less than half of those achieved by UPA Government in the present draft agreement during further course of negotiations.

He said that a US diplomat observed in his book that the NDA Government and its External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh had conveyed to US of their readiness to sign the deal as well as the CTBT.

The book was released about a year ago but neither Mr Singh nor the BJP had contradicted the book's revelations, Mr Ahmed added.

The Minister also criticised the BJP for misleading the country over Shri Amarnath Shrine Board(SASB) land allotment issue and defended the action taken by the outgone Ghulam Nabi Government.

Mr Ahmed said the state government had issued the second order in this issue to safeguard the national interests and communal harmony and this order did ensure more land use, infrastructure facilities for convenience, comforts, safety and security of the pilgrims.

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