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NEW DELHI - India's main Hindu nationalist opposition Thursday demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh quit, accusing him of misleading parliament over a key nuclear pact with the US.
The deal, which seeks to allow India to buy nuclear technology and reactors after a gap of three decades, has sparked many stormy debates since it was clinched in 2006.
The fresh controversy was triggered by a report in the Washington Post that said the United States would cut supplies of nuclear fuel and end all co-operation if New Delhi tested atomic weapons.
According to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that position contradicts Singh's assurances to parliament that the pact would not affect India's right to test atomic weapons.
"The State Department disclosures have confirmed our worst fears... It is now crystal clear that India will lose the right to conduct nuclear tests forever as a result of this agreement," senior BJP official Yashwant Sinha said.
"This is a gross breach of privilege of parliament. The BJP demands that a session of Parliament be convened in the shortest possible time so that we can move a breach of privilege motion against the Prime Minister."
"This government has no business to continue in office," Sinha said.
Singh, who in July won a confidence vote in parliament that was seen as a mandate to proceed with the controversial pact, has repeatedly defended it as vital for energy security and to end India's nuclear pariah status.
India's Marxists, who had bitterly criticised the pact, also accused the government of hiding facts.
The deal is to be debated by the Vienna-based 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) Thursday and Friday, before being sent to the US Congress for a final approval. - AFP/vm
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