India reserves right to nuclear tests: Govt

The UPA government has rejected the BJP’s charges that it surrendered its right to conduct nuclear tests to the US. 

Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said India reserved its right to nuclear tests under the 123 agreement. 

BJP charges are preposterous, the Congress leader said. 

The government was forced to issue this clarification after details of the secret letter sent by the Bush administration to the US Congress were revealed. 

First BJP attacked the government, and then the Congress party's new found supporter, the Samajwadi party said it was in a dilemma over the new developments in the nuclear deal. 

Reacting to the latest developments on the nuke deal, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said he is in a ' duvidha ' (dilemma) as the letter being reported by the media is saying something else and the Congress party's Pranab Mukherjee has said something. "I will study this properly before I can react", Mulayam said. 

The Congress, however, got into the damage control mode in a jiffy, and sought to allay his fears and tried to reassure him that there was nothing in the latest development that is not already known. 

Earlier, the BJP accused the Prime Minister of “misleading” Parliament and the country on the nuclear deal issue. 

"The Manmohan Singh government has no business to continue in office and should leave immediately," senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told a press conference here. 

The former external affairs minister said in view of the "gross breach" of privilege of both the Houses of Parliament, an immediate session should be convened "within the shortest possible time" to enable BJP to move a privilege motion against the Prime Minister if the UPA did not quit. 

The BJP made the demands following of the disclosure of a secret letter on Wednesday, sent by the Bush administration to US Congress that the pact would be off if India conducted a nuclear test. 

Sinha said the government's statement in Parliament on the nuclear deal and what the US administration has told its lawmakers were "diametrically opposed to each other".