Date:16/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/16/stories/2006021617901400.htm

National

BJP stand: Left `not surprised'

Special Correspondent

Asks whether the UPA Govt. too wants to be on that wavelength

Says the BJP was mum on Israel having 200 nuclear warheads and was opposing Iran acquiring n-weapons

Adds that maintaining good relations with Iran was in India's interests

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said it was not surprised at the decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party to support the United Progressive Alliance Government's stand on the Iran nuclear issue and sought to know whether the ruling coalition wanted to be on the same wavelength as the BJP.

`BJP govt. most pro-U.S.'

Reacting to the BJP stand, the CPI (M) Polit Bureau said the Vajpayee regime was the most "pro-American government'' India had seen since independence. It was the BJP-led government, which forged a strategic alliance with Israel that acted as the gendarme for United States' imperialism in West Asia, the party said.

The Polit Bureau said the BJP did not object to the fact that Israel had 200 nuclear warheads in its arsenal with the blessings of the U.S. and the West. Instead, they were raising the bogey of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

`Vital stakes in Iran'

"It is in India's national interests that the country maintains its good relations with Iran given the vital stakes in the region," the CPI (M) said and reiterated its stand that India should not become a party to any referral of Iran to the U.N. Security Council at the behest of the U.S. and the EU-3 and that the matter should be resolved within the framework of the IAEA.