Rubbishing the 'propaganda' against the 'historic' Indo-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the agreement will have no impact on the country's strategic interests or foreign policy but was important to maintain economic growth.
Apparently referring to the concerns of Left allies, Dr Singh told the All India Congress Committee session in New Delhi that there are 'doubts and misgivings in many minds' about the agreement.
"I would like to say that the propaganda that is being made that this nuclear deal will any way hurt our strategic programme is totally false," he said, deviating from the text of his prepared speech.
"I have stated repeatedly on several occasions that this agreement concerns only civilian side of nuclear energy and that it will have no bearing on the strategic and security programme, which will remain intact without any international interference," Dr Singh said.