Advani: Shift in stance?

New Delhi, Aug. 30: The nuclear deal has given a headache to not just the UPA but its rival BJP, too.

The BJP today tried to scotch speculation about differences among senior leaders on the deal, claiming that every statement released by the party over the last two years had been collectively approved and reflected consensus.

The party’s nuclear predicament had got magnified in the wake of an interview given by the leader of Opposition L.K. Advani that suggested a dramatic turnaround in favour of the deal.

But the BJP today released a statement by Advani that categorically denied any change of stance. To buttress the point, senior leader Sushma Swaraj told reporters while releasing the statement that Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had approved the earlier statements issued by Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie.

It was initially felt that Sinha and Shourie were at odds with Advani’s stand but the formal statement today suggests that more powerful forces could be at play.

Advani’s statement also gave a hint. It said all party statements on the deal over the last two years had been fully deliberated upon and approved by the senior-most leaders under the guidance and in the presence of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

These statements, he said, were the ones released by Sinha and Shourie. Sushma recalled that it was Advani who had moved a motion for debate in the Lok Sabha under Rule 184, which sought re-negotiation of the agreement.

Responding to queries about Advani’s silence for five days when the media speculated about the “U-turn”, Sushma said the former BJP chief had told them soon after the interview that he would make a clarification at the parliamentary party meeting, which was held today.

She argued that Advani’s interview underlined the party’s formal position and made an additional proposal that India’s domestic laws could be changed to counter the Hyde Act.

However, many BJP leaders had changed their tune after the interview was published and had started dubbing the “course correction” desirable, keeping the party’s electoral and political interests in mind.

Advani’s statement today — seen by many as a second U-turn — left no room for ambiguity.

“My interview with the Indian Express at Hyderabad about the Indo-US nuclear deal is sought to be projected as the party’s U-turn from its earlier position. Actually, it was intended to clarify how the BJP’s opposition to the agreement stems from considerations of pure national interest, and not from any kind of anti-Americanism, which may be motivating the Leftist parties,” it said.