BJP to move privilege motion against PM

Accusing the prime minister of "misleading" Parliament and the country on the nuclear deal issue, main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday demanded the resignation of the Manmohan Singh government.

"The Manmohan Singh government has no business to continue in office and should leave immediately," senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told a press conference in Delhi.

"The release of the letter sent, by the Bush administration to Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on January 16 this year, completely exposes the Government of India and the fraudulent claims it has been making about the merits of the nuclear deal," said to a joint statement by senior BJP leaders Arun Shourie and Sinha.

The party claimed that its stand about the nuclear deal has been vindicated. The BJP demanded an immediate Parliament session to discuss the developments.

Sinha claimed that the stand taken by the government of India was diametrically opposite to the one revealed by the US government -- which made it clear that the deal would be called off if India conducted a nuclear test.

"It is clearly the Manmohan Singh government which has deliberately and knowingly misled the people and the Parliament of India on this deal. It is now crystal clear that India will lose the right to nuclear tests forever as a result of this agreement. There is also no doubt any more that this deal does not contain any binding commitments by Americans and others regarding fuel supplies and on transfer of technology which this government has been falsely proclaiming for the last three years," said the statement.

The former external affairs minister said in view of the "gross breach" of privilege of both the Houses of Parliament, an immediate session should be convened "within the shortest possible time" to enable the BJP to move a privilege motion against the prime minister if the UPA did not quit.

The BJP made the demands in the wake of the disclosure of correspondence between the Bush administration and the US Congress that the pact would be off if India conducted a nuclear test.

The BJP leader said if there were so many differences on the interpretation of the deal right from the beginning, then various problems would crop up in the later stages.

"This is a sure recipe for spoiling Indo-US bilateral relations," he said, adding that BJP's "worst fears" had come true.

On the Hyde Act, Sinha said it is not only relevant but it is binding on the agreement.

"It is binding on the country. We cannot escape the rigours of the Hyde Act," he said.

The correspondence, which was made public by the US, vindicate BJP's stand, he said, adding "the position of India and US is poles apart."

"The lies of the government and the prime minister in person have been nailed..." Shourie said.

"It is a blot on us that we have to rely on disclosure by some other people rather from the government here. Once again the falsehood of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been exposed," he said.

Shourie said there is a huge difference between what the government here is saying and what the United States administration is saying.

He also claimed that the United States has clearly said that if India conducts nuclear tests, it will terminate the agreement.

"Not only that but they they have said they can also terminate the agreement on other grounds. Testing is just one of the items," he said.