The BJP national executive will discuss the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal at its meeting in Bhopal from September 21 to 23.  “It will also discuss the soft handling of the terrorist threat by the UPA government, as evident from the twin blasts in Hyderabad,” senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said here on Monday.

Mr Naidu told reporters here that a five-member committee under his leadership would finalise a nation-wide agitation plan against the deal. It would also expose the “drama being enacted by the Congress and Left parties” on the issue.

 He said, “while Congress president Sonia Gandhi is praising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the deal, calling it historic, the Left is terming it barbaric.”

 He slammed the Left parties for not daring to withdraw support to the government while agitating against the deal. Naidu asked: “Why take to the streets when the remote control is in your hands?”  He also said the BJP was not against strategic partnership with the US, but wanted renegotiation of the nuclear agreement. He maintain ed that it was against the interests of the country.

Votebank politics
Though the security of the country was under serious threat, following continuous attacks by terrorists, the Centre was not ready to take any stringent action for fear of offending Muslims. “Vote bank politics is at its extreme,” he said.  Naidu alleged that Hyderabad had become a safe haven for outsiders (like Bangladeshis).
He demanded that the police conduct a house-to-house search to flush them out.

 He welcomed the interim stay granted by the Supreme Court, restraining the Sethusamudram Corporation from demolishing the Ramar Setu/Adam’s bridge. He added that the Centre had to  respect the sentiments of Hindus.