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Left now hails PM nuke statement

      New Delhi: While the Opposition rejected Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assurances on the Indo-US nuclear deal made in Parliament on Thursday, the Left welcomed the Government stand, saying it addressed their concerns. In a statement in the Rajya Sabha that lasted more than an hour, Singh rejected charges by some members of Parliament that his government was succumbing to the US pressure to cap atomic research and weapons projects and was shifting goalposts of the original pact reached on July 18, 2005. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha said Singh did not make his stand clear on several aspects. "How he (the Prime Minister) would respond to the departures that have already taken place from the July 18 statement. He did not respond to that I asked him whether in the safeguard agreement we would ensure that we have interchangeability (option) between our civilian and military reactors. He did not respond to that. On FMCT (fissile material cut-off treaty) he did not clarify the position. So there are number of issues on which the Prime Minister has ducked an answer," Sinha said. However, the Left parties who provide key support to the Government have expressed satisfaction saying it addressed most of their reservations about the controversial deal. "It has been a considerable achievement. We had asked for nine such things and the Prime Minister ended up giving 12 of them saying on 12 of these issue the government will not do," said Sitaram Yechury, Politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). "There is also a categorical assertion by Prime Minister that any reference to foreign policy matter like that of Iran is something that the government categorically rejects. I think this is in consonance with all the issues we had raised before. Each of the issues that we raised before have been met," he added. Earlier, Singh in his statement told the Parliament, without elaborating, that if the accord, after being approved by the US Congress and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, did not conform to the parameters agreed by the two countries, India would draw "necessary conclusions".

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