BJP on defensive after Brajesh hails N-deal

RED FACED: BJP is trying to play down former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra's N-deal comments.

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Keywords: IAEA Agreement, National Security Advisor

New Delhi: An embarrassed Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) seems to be on the defensive after former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra on Friday said draft IAEA safeguards agreement is "very satisfactory" and the Indo-US nuclear deal beneficial for India.

Mishra, who was the principal secretary to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the NDA regime, said, "It is as good as we could possibly get." He said the specifics of the agreement with IAEA follow from the 123 agreement with the United States. "If you are satisfied with the 123 agreement, then this is also good".

But a red-faced BJP, which has demanded a renegotiation of the deal with US, is now trying to play down Mishra’s comments.

"Brajesh does not hold any responsibility in the party. His comments on the deal are his personal views, BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said.

But a similar "personal view" is reflected in the tactical silence of some of the key BJP leaders.

Some say that had the BJP been in power, far from rejecting it, the party probably would have showcased the nuclear deal. Currently, the differences in opinions on the sensitive issue within the party are quite evident.

BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley has been maintaining a strategic silence on the deal, ostensibly because of his inflexible stand on the issue in the past.

"By taking very intransigent positions on this deal in the past, they have reduced the flexibility to adapt to newer positions and that explains probably why they have been low key on this," political analyst Swapan Dasgupta said.

It will be interesting to see what line the BJP takes in the trust vote debate. It has to maintain that it has nothing against strategic relationship with the US and the only aspect of the deal they dislike is the restriction on carrying out nuclear tests.