PTI

New Delhi, Jun 11: The Prime Minister has for the first time blamed the Left and the BJP for stopping the nuclear deal in its tracks.

On the sidelines of a meeting with foreign service probationers in Delhi, Manmohan Singh made a strong pitch for the nuclear deal and said it is crucial for ending nuclear apartheid against India.

“Our domestic politics has prevented us from going ahead. I will still continue to hope that we will make progress in the months that lie ahead. The Indo-US nuclear is very important to end nuclear apartheid that the world has sought to impose on India. This agreement, if it materialises, if it sees light of the day, will open new possibilities of cooperation not only with the US but also with other nuclear powers like Russia and France,” he said.

The Left parties, which extend crucial outside support to the Government, have been strongly opposing implementation of the deal with the US, arguing that it would compromise the country's security interest and independent foreign policy.

Left parties have warned the Government of serious consequences if it implemented the deal and the two sides are currently engaged in talks to end the deadlock.

"It is very important for us to move forward to end this nuclear apartheid that the world has sought to impose on India," the Prime Minister said in an apparent message to the Left allies.

The PM said by entering into the nuclear deal with the US, his government has sought to give a new dimension to its relationship with Washington.

"It is for the first time we got the US to appreciate that India is a nuclear weapon state, that India has the right to develop nuclear power to protect its strategic interests, and that it is a decision that must be made by the people of India not subject to any international supervision or any international interference," he noted.

He said that despite India not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and New Delhi's refusal to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, "there is no pressure from the US on India to sign NPT or any other international arrangement of that sort to enter into nuclear cooperation for civil energy.

"This agreement, if it materialises, if it sees the light of the day, will open up new possibilities of cooperation, not only with the US but all other nuclear powers like Russia (and) France, who are very keen that once we have this deal through, that India should become eligible for civil nuclear cooperation," Singh said.