BJP slams Left for 'surrender' on N-deal

Describing the India-United States civil nuclear deal as unacceptable to the party, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday slammed the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist for 'surrendering' to the Congress despite making 'noises' over it and said if voted back to power, it would re-negotiate the deal and if it was not possible, cancel it.

"The Congress has surrendered to the US on the nuke deal and the communist parties have surrendered to the Congress although they had made so much noise over the deal. It was a trade-off between the Congress and the communists over Nandigram and the nuke deal," senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said.

Naidu said after Wednesday's debate in Parliament on the nuclear deal, the 'double standard' of the communist parties was exposed and now "they were confining themselves to giving sound bytes and not ready for a real fight".

"They (CPI-M and CPI) want the United Progressive Alliance government to continue even after saying that the nuke deal was a surrender to the US. After all-round condemnation of the CPI-M over its role in Nandigram and Singur, they have developed cold feet about going to the people," he said.

The former BJP president said, "The Congress doesn't know how to run the country and how to manage a coalition. It did not do any homework before negotiating the deal, neither did it consult its allies".