NEW DELHI: Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has personally initiated a rethink in BJP policy on the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement, with a decision now being taken to pressure the Manmohan Singh government to withdraw from the nuclear deal in its present form. A meeting at Mr Vajpayees residence, attended by former external affairs ministers Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha as well as former national security adviser Brajesh Mishra, discussed the developments and agreed that the constant changes being introduced into the initial agreement were simply unacceptable.

Former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani and BJP president Rajnath Singh could not attend the meeting as they are out on their respective yatras. However, Mr Rajnath Singh made it clear in Ranchi on Monday that the BJP was no longer inclined to extend even nominal support to the agreement, maintaining that the Centre should withdraw from the agreement with the United States as the pact would cripple Indias nuclear capabilities.

The BJP is now expected to strategise its opposition to the nuclear agreement and take it up in the forthcoming session of parliament. Former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha told this correspondent that the party was very concerned about “the manner in which the agreement is being changed every day.” He said that any ambiguity about the BJP position had been cleared after the recent statement by Mr Vajpayee, where he had said that the concessions being given by the government to US demands would eventually ensure that “the course of action of the Government of India, in future, will be determined not by laws passed by the parliament of India or by international laws to which we are party, but by the laws framed by the US Congress.”

The BJP will also now be opposing the agreement from the national security point of view, with statements by US officials about Indias minimum nuclear deterrent striking new notes of alarm. Mr Rajnath Singh also stated, in what is clearly building up into a new offensive against the nuclear agreement: “India being a sovereign state has the right to decide as to what kind of nuclear deterrent New Delhi needs in respect of international security perceptions. Since India has already faced four attacks from Pakistan and one from China in the past it is all the more necessary to keep New Delhis deterrent capabilities updated.”

He said that India was at present free to conduct nuclear tests as and when it felt necessary as it was not a signatory to either the CTBT or the NPT. “But the Indo-US nuclear deal will cripple Indias nuclear capabilities,” he said.

There is a great deal of disquiet in Indias political establishment, including sections of the Congress Party, about the manner in which the nuclear agreement is being negotiated by the government with the United States. Sources said that even those supporting good and stronger relations with Washington were now worried about the manner in which the US was forcing the government to concede new demands. The BJP president went so far as to say: “This treaty is complicated and intriguing as it will require the country to act in accordance with US wishes while addressing security needs.”

The government is worried about opposition from the BJP, as it could now be totally isolated in its support for the nuclear deal.—By arrangement with The Asian Age