New Delhi, July 5 (ANI): Reacting to the remarks of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Om Prakash Chautala that the United National Progressive Alliance may break following the decision of the Samajwadi Party to back the nuclear deal, the party's General Secretary Amar Singh said that his party would 'act in the interest of the country'.
Amar Singh said :"Neither has the Congress asked for support nor have we offered our support. We will decide when the confidence motion is moved in Parliament."
''After endorsement of the Indo-US nuclear deal by former president A P J Abdul Kalam, it was not a question of support to Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh, but of what was in the interest of the country,'' he said.
Singh also called Chautala as his friend and said: "I would not like to make comment on him. I only want to say that for the Samajwadi Party, the interest of the country took precedence over that of the party, and the main issue was to fight with the communal forces which were a danger to the country."
He said the vote of confidence in Parliament will not be between the supporters and the opponents of the nuclear deal but between communal and secular forces, and the Congress was a secular party.
"We'll do anything to combat communalism. L K Advani is a greater threat to us than George Bush. America and imperialism is better than the Bharatiya Janata Party's communalism," he remarked.
Samajwadi Party leaders had on Thursday sought the advice of former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam on the nuclear deal issue, and he had endorsed it by saying that it is in the national interest.
Singh confirmed that National Security Adviser M K Narayanan had briefed him about the deal and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also issued a public statement that the deal is in the national interest.
Kakodkar for early implementation of the nuclear deal
Bangalore, July 5 (ANI): The Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Dr. Anil Kakodkar has stated that the sooner the nuclear deal was concluded, it would be better for the country.
Talking to ANI in an exclusive interview in Bangalore on Friday on the sideline of a scientist's gathering, he said that presently Indian reactors were a 'mismatch' and running under capacity.
However, he said he was confident of bridging the gap.
Dr. Kakodkar was in Bangalore to address a galaxy of scientists on "Development of nuclear energy in India: Rationale and Perspective", at the ninth mid- year meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences organized by Indian Institute of Science.
He further said India was looking at exploring more uranium mines to augment the needs of the nuclear reactors.
However he refused to answer any political questions on the deal. He also spoke about Indian preparedness to face any eventuality. .
Meanwhile talking to ANI Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Dr. Srikumar Banerjee has said that India was looking at meeting the uranium needs of the reactors through new exploration.
He also indicated that India was going ahead to commission eight new generation reactors of 700 megawatts each.
Another senior nuclear scientist who has been critical of the 123 agreement, Dr. Placid Rodriguez, pointed out that even though the country needed uranium, the 123 agreement opened the door to US to sell their defence products than supply uranium. (ANI)
