PM takes on critics, tells them: I am not quitting

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday rejected reports that he was considering to resign from his post because of the stalled Indo-US nuclear deal and hoped that the agreement can still be operationalised.

“I have mentioned that there are some difficulties. We are working in a coalition. We have to find a way out and I have not given up hope," he told reporters accompanying him on his return home from the two-nation five-day trip to Nigeria and South Africa.

Asked about BJP's attack on him that he has lost the moral right to govern and should resign because of "failure" of the deal, Singh said: "well, the BJP of all the parties is least qualified to talk about the moral right to govern."

He referred to the 2002 Gujarat riots and said: "look at the holocaust that took place. It took place when Mr L K Advani was the Home Minister and he gave certificates to the Gujarat government. "And we also saw the massacres that took place in Gujarat under BJP. They did not think of the moral right to govern on that occasion," Singh said.

He also referred to the Indo-Pak talks in 2001, saying: "what about the fiasco with regard to the Agra Summit, the collapse of the Agra Summit." He also hit out at the BJP over the Kargil conflict of 1999 when NDA was in power.

"And we all know why the war in Kargil took place. The infiltrators were coming into our territory and the government in New Delhi was sleeping," he said, adding: "So I think the BJP is the least qualified to talk about the moral right to govern.

Asked whether the nuclear deal was "dead" or he still had hope, the Prime Minister replied "I have mentioned that there are some difficulties. We are in a coalition. We have to find a way out and I have not given up hope."

To a question as to whether Brazil and South Africa, both members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), were forthcoming in their support to India on cooperation on use of nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes, Singh said: "well, I think we have to resolve our problems at home and the process is on.

"Our discussions with the members of the NSG will take place only after we have an India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). Only after that the NSG members will consider cooperation with India. They will come in only after we have sorted our our problems that have arisen you all know about it."

Asked about US State Department's comment that the nuclear agreement should be completed before 2008 end and whether he was hopeful about it, Singh said: "well, I think we will make every effort."

"We are trying to evolve a national consensus. I hope that the process which emerges as a result of wide-ranging negotiations with our coalition partners will enable us to move forward."

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