Against the backdrop of the ‘done’ Indo-US nuke deal, the Congress on Wednesday made it clear that the party will take on the Government during the Budget Session in Parliament starting next month and will demand details of the assurances given by it for resolving the seven-year-old logjam which continued through the UPA tenure.
A day after Barack Obama left the country, Congress alleged that the Government has kept all the details of assurances given to the US side “vague” and just announced the resolution of the deadlock during the US President’s visit.
Congress members will raise the issue in both Houses when the Budget Session begins on February 23 and will ask the Government to inform Parliament of the assurances that have been given, some party functionaries indicated, adding the matter could be raised during the debate on President’s motion in the House on February 24 and 25.
Former Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said that the party was not opposing the finalisation of the agreement as the “Indo-US nuclear deal was scripted by the UPA, which the BJP then opposed but finally adopted”.
India and the US reached an understanding on resolving the logjam in implementing the landmark civil nuclear deal on January 25, which was announced jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President Obama here.
“The Government must inform Parliament about the assurances on the commercial component of the agreement it reached, the financial liability clause and the compensation part. We do not have the fine print of the assurances given as yet. They have kept it vague so far. Government has not shared the details and it must place them before Parliament,” Sharma, also the Deputy leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, told PTI.
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.