BY AMIT AGNIHOTRI
NEW DELHI, Sept. 7: After the Nuclear Suppliers Group waiver for India, an upbeat Congress has said the international approval has exposed the contradiction among regional parties like CPI(M) and SAD, who wanted nuclear energy for their states but opposed the Indo-US civil nuclear deal in the national capital.
"Both the Left Front and the BJP-SAD governments wanted West Bengal and Punjab respectively to benefit from the nuclear energy owing to severe power shortages in their states. But they continued to oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal in New Delhi. The contradiction in their views stands exposed today," said Congress national spokesman Manish Tiwari.
According to the reports, while West Bengal power minister and senior CPI(M) leader Mrinal Banerjee had said the state badly needs nuclear energy to meet the power demand, the BJP-SAD government in Punjab too has been pushing for a nuclear power plant in Punjab for the same reasons.
Mr Banerjee had advocated nuclear energy while replying to a supplementary put by Congress legislature party leader Manas Bhuinya in March this year.
His reply had rattled the CPI(M) leadership, as it went against the party view that nuclear energy is a costly option as compared to coal energy. The minister had even cited the case of France, which gets 75 per cent of its power from nuclear energy.
Similarly, the BJP-SAD government in Punjab led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal too has been pushing for a nuclear power plant in the state citing the growing energy needs of the state.
The BJP-SAD government had even criticised the previous Congress government of Amarinder Singh for opposing such a proposal citing dense population and national security in the border state.
"The Nuclear Suppliers Group waiver has taken the winds out of the Opposition sail and has brought their lack of conviction on the issue into the open. We will now tell the people which political parties can take them ahead into the 21st century and which are the ones still stuck up in the 20th century equations," said a senior Congress leader.
He said that India’s Vienna victory has negated the charge of these regional political outfits that the Congress has compromised with the sovereignty of the country.
