Congress asks opposition to stop targetting PM

Manish Tiwari, spokesperson of the Congress party, said it was high time the Bhartiya Janata Party should stop finding fault with Manmohan Singh as the prime minister of the country.

"L K Advani has described Dr Singh as the weakest prime minister but what he has achieved through the nuclear agreement has left our neighbours far behind," Tiwari said.

Tiwari praised the prime minister foresight in signing the nuclear deal. "If you go outside the capital,  you would find that people are more interested in uninteruppted power than price rise which we are trying to control," he added.

"The recognition of India as a de-facto nuclear weapon state has been evidenced by both the separation plan and the safeguards agreement," he said.

Tiwari pointed out that while Vajpayee as prime minister was willing to sign the Non Proliferation Treaty and gave a unilateral commitment at the United Nations General Assembly while under Dr Singh's leadership the promise of full civil nuclear cooperation has been redeemed.

Tiwari made it a point to highlight that "the Nuclear Suppliers' Group waiver does not deny India enrichment and processing technology. It allows India to become a civilian nuclear technology exporter in due course of time. The agreement between India and the United States would put India on the trajectory to becoming a power in an emerging multi-polar power paradigm."