New Delhi: The issue of operationalising the Indo-US civil nuclear deal will echo in Parliament when Budget session begins on February 23 as Congress plans to ask the Govern-ment to explain the assuran-ces it has given during Barack Obama’s visit for resolving the logjam.
The party at the same time made it clear that it was not opposing the finalisa-tion of the agreement as the “Indo-US nuclear deal was scripted by the UPA, which the BJP then opposed but finally adopted”. “Govern-ment must inform Parliament about the assurances on the commercial component of the agreement it reached, the financial liability clause and the compensation part.
“They have kept it vague so far. Government has not shared the details and it must place them before Parlia-ment,” Deputy Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma told PTI.
Sharma at the same time said that his party was not opposing the agreement as such as the Indo-US nuclear deal was UPA’s baby. India and the US reached an understanding on resol-ving the logjam in impleme-nting the landmark civil nuclear deal on January 25, which was announced jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President Obama here. They reached the “break-through” on the stalled civil nuclear agreement by agreeing on commercial cooperation.
Congress has so far reacted cautiously to the development, saying it would have to see the fine print on whether Modi has addressed issues raised by the US within India’s legal framework and sought details as to how the difficulties were overcome.
Some party functio-naries speaking on the condition of anonymity said that Congress members will raise the issue in both Houses when the Budget session begins and will ask the government to inform Parliament of the assurances that have been given. The Congress functionaries said that the issue can be raised during the debate on Presi-dent’s motion in the House on February 24 and 25.
A senior party functio-nary speaking separately said on the condition of anonymity that the party will examine whether the assurances given by Modi government will require amendments in the deal signed earlier or were in consonance with India’s stand. “Government will have to make a statement on Obama visit. We will see whether the statement is made by Prime Minister Modi or External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
We will seek to know what breakthrough has been made,” the leader said. A day after the agreement was signed, White House Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said, “The Indians have put forward an approach in which they’re creating an insurance pool, and commit-ted financial resources to that pool that will mitigate risk for companies for doing business here in India.(PTI)
