Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and the party's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani on Thursday said he would have no objection to the signing of the much debated nuclear deal with the United States if it was renegotiated to allow the option of further nuclear testing.
"We have no problem with supply of nuclear fuel from America for our reactors and for generation of atomic energy. But we have to ponder over at what cost we are going to get it," the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha remarked at a book release function in Pune.
Criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for rejecting the BJP demand to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Pokhran II, the 1998 atomic explosions by India conducted by the National Democratic Alliance government that made the country a nuclear power, Advani said his party attached similar importance to Pokhran I, that happened in 1974 under the rule of Indira Gandhi.
Advani said the BJP would not accept a ban on "Pokhran III" as it would compromise India's position as a nuclear power. "Remove this ban in the agreement by renegotiating the deal and we will not have objection," he added.
Advani's comments came in response to a statement made earlier during the function by noted computer scientist Vijay Bhatkar who said it was important that India sign the nuclear deal with the US to facilitate greater production of atomic energy. A biography of late BJP leader Arvind Lele was released by Advani on the occasion.
Complete coverage: The Indo-US nuclear tango