PM, Sinha trade shots in RS debate on N-deal

New Delhi, December 4: An unusually aggressive Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 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," 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.

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 A K 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, Sinha said Singh was getting personal and he was sorry for this. He also retorted that Singh was the Chief Economic Adviser in the government in which he was the Finance Minister(in the short-lived Chandrashekhar government).