Govt briefs BJP leaders on foreign policy

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today made the first move on the road to a rapprochement with the main Opposition BJP with whom the UPA government's relations had sunk to an all time low.

At a lunch hosted by him, the PM spoke to former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and former National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra.

According to sources in the PMO, the lunch was held since the PM considered it "a good idea to chat with senior leaders in the Opposition."

"The idea is to communicate, and questions will be answered on anything that they have apprehensions on," added the source. The government's side was represented by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and current National Security Advisor M K Narayanan.

While the official statement from the PMO only stated that the external affairs minister briefed the leaders on neighbouring countries and India's relations with Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan, sources indicate that the Indo-US civil nuclear co-operation deal was also discussed.

Sources say that the PM had issued this invitation over a month ago and the main purpose behind the luncheon meeting was to "avoid the kind of foreign policy embarrassments that were being sprung by the Opposition."

"When you level an allegation of a sell-out, often enough, somebody is bound to believe you. The PM wants no part in this and wanted to take the Opposition into confidence," said a top source in the government.

The prompting for the lunch was the PM's visit to Vajpayee's house on the latter's 82nd birthday on December 25. At that time, Vajpayee complained to the PM that the Opposition was not being taken into confidence.

It has not been made clear whether this would be a regular feature or not. For the record though, Vajpayee's favourite Jumbo Prawns were part of the menu, perfect for gourmet diplomacy.