'Why did Shyam Saran quit?'

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday raised questions over the resignation of Prime Minister's special envoy Shyam Saran and wondered why another top diplomat Shivshankar Menon who, it alleged, brought "shame" to the country at Sharm-el-Sheikh, was appointed National Security Adviser.

"Why an honest adviser of the government, who had the country's interests in mind, is not able to continue," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad asked.

"Does this government only promote those advisers, who create shame at Sharm-el-Sheikh and make India meekly surrender as far as foreign policy concerned," he posed, referring to former Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.

He claimed that Saran's differences with Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on emission cuts were a known fact. Saran, who announced his decision to quit on Friday, was the Prime Minister's special envoy on climate change.

"It is a fact that he was opposed to weakening of India's position on climate change as far as emission cuts are concerned," the BJP spokesperson said.

Prasad said the party demands that the government should explain Saran's decision to quit and the appointment of Menon as NSA against the backdrop of "highly detrimental initiatives taken in Kashmir in the fight against terror and meek submission in dialogue with Pakistan."

This is "a very disturbing scenario", he said adding, BJP takes the developments "very seriously."