Date:28/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/28/stories/2008042853531200.htm

National

Advani on future of nuclear tests

New Delhi: Opposing the India-U.S. nuclear deal, the Bharatiya Janata Party said on Sunday that no country could give in writing that it would not undertake nuclear tests in future.

“No country can ... has any other country said that hereafter we will have no further tests. Has [the] U.S. given any such undertaking, has any other country which has so much nuclear weaponry said it in writing. It is one thing to voluntarily give it up but to say it in writing as part of a treaty is another,” Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha L.K. Advani told Asianet channel in an interview.

Asked about Congressmen projecting Rahul Gandhi as next Prime Minister, the BJP leader said he would not like to comment on it.

Queried on dynastic politics, Mr. Advani said that he found such a trend in most parties but in the BJP it was not the case.

He cited the example of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had humble beginnings as the son of a schoolteacher and reached the top and the same was the case with him.

Mr. Advani alleged that the Left parties were being hypocritical by aligning with the Congress just to keep the BJP out. — PTI