New Delhi: The BJP on Thursday said it would settle for nothing less than a thorough discussion and voting in Parliament on the Indo-US nuke deal, as it accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of breach of privilege, citing the US statement on the accord.
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha rejected External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement on the pact in the Lok Sabha as a 'brazen attempt to mislead the country' about the deal's impact on India's nuclear programmes.
"We have earlier described the Prime Minister's statement (on 123) as a bundle of white lies. His (Mukherjee's) statement today continues with those untruths," the former external affairs minister told a press conference.
Sinha, who read out portions from the US' India-specific Hyde Act, insisted that New Delhi's nuclear and strategic programmes would be impacted by the American law once the deal was operationalised.
"It will prohibit India from carrying out even (atomic) lab tests... It aims to cap, rollback and eliminate India's nuclear weapons programme," he remarked.
The BJP moved a notice of breach of privilege against the Prime Minister in both Houses over his statement in Parliament on the nuke pact following Washington's assertion that it would be terminated if India conducted a nuclear test.
Sinha alleged that the Indian government's statement on the pact lacked transparency 'unlike' those coming from the United States. He said the nuclear accord would eventually hurt Indo-US ties.
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