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Jyoti Malhotra
NEW DELHI, DEC 8: Prime Minister A B Vajpayee today attempted to reforge a degree of consensus on India's foreign policy, but the battery of Opposition leaders he met seemed to have returned unconvinced that New Delhi's dialogue with its chief interlocutor abroad, the US, was going places.
``We want the government to give us more information about talks with the US. They say that the talks with Washington are still inconclusive, so we want to know first where both sides stand,'' one Opposition leader who attended the meeting said.
The prime minister's team consisted of external affairs minister Jaswant Singh (also the chief negotiator), principal secretary Brajesh Mishra, minister of state for external affairs Vasundhara Raje, law minister Thambi Durai and K Santhanam, chief advisor to the DRDO. Defence minister George Fernandeswas away in Bangalore.
The Opposition leaders who attended the over two-hour-long meeting at Race Course Road were Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and Sharad Pawar from theCongress, Somnath Chatterjee from the CPI(M), Indrajit Gupta from the CPI, former prime minister I K Gujral and TMC leader P Chidambaram.
It seems now that the PM's intended statement in Parliament on the Indo-US dialogue will now be put off till early next week. The Opposition, even if it eventually comes around to the government's view on crucial issues like the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), wants to first ``make the BJP speak'' about its own position.
``We want the PM to make a statement first. Let us have the information and then we can think about a debate on foreign policy,'' another Opposition leader said. Clearly, these leaders seemed upset with the government for not taking them into confidence about key issues of the dialogue New Delhi is conducting abroad. They pointed out that the UF government had consulted then leader of the Opposition, Vajpayee, each step of the way on all major issues, whether Pakistan or the CTBT.
``Now it is left for Strobe Talbott (US deputy secretary ofstate) to tell us what is happening, that too in a published newspaper article,'' one leader said. Another felt if India's security concerns were not safeguarded, the time may not be right yet to sign the CTBT. ``Even if the parliament resolution on CTBT has to be changed, we must first have the full facts on what the government is doing,'' he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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