In the nuke ring: Yashwant Sinha finds PM can give as good as he gets
An unusually aggressive Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday attacked senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha saying he was making “false charges” and taunted him that as finance minister he was not allowed to meet his Japanese counterpart during a v...
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: An unusually aggressive Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday attacked senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha saying he was making “false charges” and taunted him that as finance minister he was not allowed to meet his Japanese counterpart during a visit to Tokyo.
“Mr Sinha is levelling false charges against my government. Perhaps he(Sinha) is reminded of what happened when he was in government (in 1991) when he went to Japan when he was not allowed to meet the finance minister. He thinks all people are like him,” Mr Singh shot back at Sinha as the two entered into a wordy duel that at times got personal.
The passage at arms came during a debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal in the Rajya Sabha when Sinha also charged the government with coming under US pressure in not signing the agreement for four more reactors for the Koodankulam atomic power plant when the Russians were ready with a draft during the prime minister’s recent visit.
Mr Sinha had earlier attacked the government saying external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee failed to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Russian counterpart while defence minister AK Antony could not meet Putin during their recent visits. He wondered what had happened to the country’s relations with Russia.
Stunned by the Prime Minister’s remarks, Mr Sinha said Singh was getting personal and he was sorry for this. He also retorted that Mr Singh was the chief economic adviser in the government in which he was the finance minister(in the short-lived Chandrashekhar government).
“It has always been understood that the agreements for four additional reactors (for Koodankulam atomic power project) could be signed only after India got the approval from IAEA for India-specific safeguards and work out with the NSG issues that are under discussion,” Mr Singh said in a brief intervention in the Rajya Sabha. Mr Singh said it was quite obvious that the agreement with Russia was not to be operationalised till the issues with IAEA and NSG were resolved and Moscow fully understood it.
“All this false propaganda that is being made here and outside is not related to the facts of the case,” he said. On another issue, the prime minister said there was any pressure on India or on him to join or not join the Shanghai Cooperation Agreement Meeting.
Telling the Chair that Mr Sinha was levelling false charges, Mr Singh said “All that I was interested was that if the Indian Prime Minister goes to these meetings, he should not sit in the side lounge, coffee lounge and not be involved in an active manner.” Mr Sinha alleged that India was under US pressure not to attend these meetings.
Irked by charges on the prime minister, science and technology minister Kapil Sibal retorted to say “your prime minister would have done that.” To this, BJP’s Sushma Swaraj interjected “The Prime Minister is of the country. The Prime Minister is not yours or ours.” Mr Sinha did not stop here. “Yes, of course. Our Prime Minister never sat on any international high table...This is in your fate and you clapped a lot...”
At one stage, deputy chairman K Rahman Khan counselled members not to get personal in their attacks. On Sinha's reference that Singh was economic adviser to the then Prime Minister under whom he was the finance minister, railway minister Lalu Prasad interjected to say that after all Sinha was once personal assistant to then Bihar chief minister late Karpoori Thakur.
Sinha retorted saying “Yes. I was principal secretary to Karpoori Thakur when Laluji used to come to my room with recommendations.”
He also alleged that Laluji had once recommended that a MISA detenue be released from jail.
“Mr Sinha is levelling false charges against my government. Perhaps he(Sinha) is reminded of what happened when he was in government (in 1991) when he went to Japan when he was not allowed to meet the finance minister. He thinks all people are like him,” Mr Singh shot back at Sinha as the two entered into a wordy duel that at times got personal.
The passage at arms came during a debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal in the Rajya Sabha when Sinha also charged the government with coming under US pressure in not signing the agreement for four more reactors for the Koodankulam atomic power plant when the Russians were ready with a draft during the prime minister’s recent visit.
Mr Sinha had earlier attacked the government saying external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee failed to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Russian counterpart while defence minister AK Antony could not meet Putin during their recent visits. He wondered what had happened to the country’s relations with Russia.
Stunned by the Prime Minister’s remarks, Mr Sinha said Singh was getting personal and he was sorry for this. He also retorted that Mr Singh was the chief economic adviser in the government in which he was the finance minister(in the short-lived Chandrashekhar government).
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Dismissing as “false” the charge that India came under American pressure in not signing the Koodankulam pacts, Mr Singh said it could not be concluded because government was yet to work out issues with IAEA and Nuclear Suppliers Group.“It has always been understood that the agreements for four additional reactors (for Koodankulam atomic power project) could be signed only after India got the approval from IAEA for India-specific safeguards and work out with the NSG issues that are under discussion,” Mr Singh said in a brief intervention in the Rajya Sabha. Mr Singh said it was quite obvious that the agreement with Russia was not to be operationalised till the issues with IAEA and NSG were resolved and Moscow fully understood it.
“All this false propaganda that is being made here and outside is not related to the facts of the case,” he said. On another issue, the prime minister said there was any pressure on India or on him to join or not join the Shanghai Cooperation Agreement Meeting.
Telling the Chair that Mr Sinha was levelling false charges, Mr Singh said “All that I was interested was that if the Indian Prime Minister goes to these meetings, he should not sit in the side lounge, coffee lounge and not be involved in an active manner.” Mr Sinha alleged that India was under US pressure not to attend these meetings.
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Irked by charges on the prime minister, science and technology minister Kapil Sibal retorted to say “your prime minister would have done that.” To this, BJP’s Sushma Swaraj interjected “The Prime Minister is of the country. The Prime Minister is not yours or ours.” Mr Sinha did not stop here. “Yes, of course. Our Prime Minister never sat on any international high table...This is in your fate and you clapped a lot...”
At one stage, deputy chairman K Rahman Khan counselled members not to get personal in their attacks. On Sinha's reference that Singh was economic adviser to the then Prime Minister under whom he was the finance minister, railway minister Lalu Prasad interjected to say that after all Sinha was once personal assistant to then Bihar chief minister late Karpoori Thakur.
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Sinha retorted saying “Yes. I was principal secretary to Karpoori Thakur when Laluji used to come to my room with recommendations.”
He also alleged that Laluji had once recommended that a MISA detenue be released from jail.
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