Friday, August 11 2006 18:48 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The CPI(M) today (Aug 11,2006) distanced itself from BJP on the Indo-US nuclear issue saying the saffron party had brought India to parity with Pakistan through the Pokhran-II blasts from a situation where New Delhi's stand on the issue was accepted globally.

"We have fundamental differences with BJP on the issue. We had opposed Pokhran-II and nuclear weaponisation and we continue to do so," CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury told reporters here.

He said the Pokhran-II nuclear implosions had brought down India's stature to a parity with Pakistan from a situation where its position on the sensitive issue was accepted globally.

Reiterating the party's stand that the 'sense of the House' should be reflected on the matter when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh replies to a debate expected next week in Rajya Sabha, he said the government should assure that the Indo-US deal would not affect India's strategic nuclear programme.

"We want to be assured that the deal would not bind us to conditionalities. We had raised nine critical areas of departure made by the US from the July 2005 joint statement. Government should reaffirm that these concerns would be addressed".

Yechury's colleagues Basudeb Acharia and Rupchand Pal said "the least expected from the Prime Minister was that he should assure that the government would never bend to pressure and not go beyond the parameters set by Parliament and the statements he made on the floor of the House".

The Rajya Sabha is likely to take up a short debate on the sensitive issue on August 17, a notice for which has been served by the major Left party.