National

SP will go along with PM on deal

NEW DELHI: Setting at rest speculation on the Samajwadi Party’s “dilemma” over the latest controversy surrounding the India-U.S. nuclear agreement, general secretary Amar Singh on Friday said the party would go along with the Prime Minister’s assurance that there would be no compromise on the country’s sovereignty in case it conducted a nuclear test.

“We will take the final agreement at the Nuclear Suppliers Group as evidence,” Mr. Singh said at a ‘meet-the-press’ here.

When the SP consulted the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, he said India had conducted enough tests for nuclear capability, was already a nuclear weapon state and that no fresh tests were required. “We are awaiting the outcome of the NSG negotiations. We will take a call when there is a crisis,” Mr. Singh said. He was commenting on the controversy over the clause that the U.S. would end all nuclear cooperation if India carried out a nuclear test.

On the demand by the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party for a Parliament session to discuss the issue, he said, “Their opposition is for the sake of opposition.”

On the SP-Congress talks on seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Singh gave enough indications that a dozen-odd seats were all that the party was willing to give the Congress.

According to him, the arrangement could be on the lines of what obtained in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections or of the “Lalu Prasad formula in Bihar.” “If we go by the 2004 elections, the Congress won 12 seats and if we go by the “Lalu formula” — which the Congress negotiators say is a “model” — then they should get eight seats. In 2004, out of 40 seats in Bihar, Mr. Prasad had given the Congress four seats. By that yardstick, in Uttar Pradesh with 80 seats, the Congress should get eight. However, since 12 are higher, they should get 12.”

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu