Nuke deal: Kakodkar keeps BJP in the loop

Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar today met former ministers in the NDA government, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie.

Kakodkar returned from Vienna on Friday after initiating talks with the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA) over a safeguards agreement that is a must for operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Sources in the BJP said the meeting was more of a "reporting" exercise rather than consultation. Top government sources say Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is keen to avoid the charge that he is ignoring the Opposition's views on the deal.

BJP sources say the two leaders have been deputed by the party to meet Kakodkar since "they are best suited to understand the technical nuances of the deal." Kakodkar did not met any other BJP leader, the source added.

"After BJP leader LK Advani said the BJP was upset at being ignored by the government on the deal and the adamant attitude the party took after that, the prime minister preferred to keep the opposition informed," said a top source in the government.

Kakodkar will leave for the second round of talks with the IAEA in December.

Meanwhile, a day before the debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal begins in Parliament, the government said it won't consider the deliberations as a reflection of the "sense of the House".

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi today said, "It will be a short-duration discussion. There is no rule of the House to consider such discussion as sense of the House."

He said there would be no voting on the motion. The government is taking pre-emptive steps are keeping in mind the possibility of most parties opposing the deal.