NEW DELHI: Maintaining opposition to the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, BJP has rejected government's argument that the Hyde Act would have no bearing on the agreement and asked it not to operationalize it. Soon after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made a statement on the nuclear deal in the Lok Sabha, the opposition party said the government should not go ahead to operationalise the deal as there was no consensus on it. Mukherjee's statement that the Hyde Act "is not binding on us is opposite to the statement by American official.

Government should make the situation clear," BJP spokesperson Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters here. Cautioning the government against going ahead with the deal without consensus, he said, "Consensus should not be merely with the Left parties." Senior BJP leader Murli Manmohar Joshi said his party is opposed to the deal in the present form and wants it to be renegotiated. "Our stand on the nuclear deal is unchanged and we oppose it in the present form. BJP would renegotiate the deal if it comes to power," Joshi said.