[Joint statement issued by Shri L.K. Advani, Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha), Shri Rajnath Singh, President, BJP and Shri Jaswant Singh, Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha)]
OVER the last few days several persons including Mr. Henry Kissinger, the US Ambassador Mr. David Mulford, Mr. M.K. Narayanan, National Security Adviser and Dr. Anil Kakodkar have called on the three of us to discuss various aspects of the nuclear deal. The BJP'sposition was put across and is briefly reiterated here:
1. The BJP has been and continues to be of the view that the UPA government has made a significant strategic blunder by turning this deal into a kind of an icon of India'srelations with the US.
2. The BJP has consistently stood for close Indo-US cooperation and strategic partnership as between two equal sovereigns.
3. We stand opposed to the deal because in our view it compromises long-term strategic programmes of India, vital for country'ssecurity, neither will it help meet our energy needs of future.
4. Therefore, the BJP strongly recommends that this deal must be renegotiated and not hustled through as the UPA government is attempting to.
