BANGALORE: A senior member of the Atomic Energy Commission has slammed the left parties for their opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal, saying they were only worried about their ideology and do not bother about the country's GDP growth.

"It does not matter to them whether GDP growth suffers or not so long as they have their ideology," M R Srinivasan, also former Chairman of AEC, said in an address to the Rotary Club here. "Their main concern is India and the US are coming closer, especially in strategic terms, and they (left parties) think this is something they cannot stomach," he said.

According to him, while India needs to have good relations with China, it is not a good thing to have a strong China and a weak India in a long haul. "A strong India and a strong China is good for both countries and also to the world."

Strengthening of relations with the US should be seen as "hedging your risk" so that New Delhi is not left "high and dry," he advocated. Srinivasan also did not spare the BJP, which has also opposed the agreement, and said the party now keeps saying that the pact affects the country's nuclear independence.

He noted that it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of the BJP-led NDA coalition who announced soon after the 1998 Pokhran tests that India would observe voluntary moratorium on further tests and also made an announcement on a "no first use" of nuclear weapons.

"These two (announcements)... Well... Looking back... One can ask what prompted him to say so... He could have negotiated... He could have used it as a negotiating tool," Srinivasan said. He indicated that Vajpayee might have made the announcement heeding his advisors who wanted to promote him as a statesman and ideologist.

Srinivasan said in case India insists on renegotiation of the agreement following opposition and as a result of Parliamentary debate, the Bush administration is sure to ask New Delhi to wait till the new government takes charge in Washington.

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