At a time when political parties in the Opposition are rallying around the Left against the UPA on the Indo-US nuclear deal, National Security Advisor in the BJP-led NDA government Brajesh Mishra has said that he would let the deal go ahead if he is convinced that the country’s strategic weapons programme is safe and intact.

Mishra, considered one of the key architects of the changed New Delhi-Washington relationship who has been critical of the deal, admitted that its failure would have an “adverse impact on the growth of our relationship (with the US).”

With a disclaimer that he was neither speaking for any party nor leadership, Mishra told The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV’s Walk the Talk (to be broadcast on November 3 at 9.30 pm) that he faced a dilemma. “...The deal, which is offered, has been made the centrepiece of the strategic relationship. I don’t think the Clinton administration would have offered (such a deal). That is why I say it is a dilemma for a person like me who is worried about the strategic programme and also the deal not going through.”

Mishra admitted that if the deal fell through, “nothing much will happen between India and the US when the new administration comes.” When told that the next White House, a probable Hillary Clinton administration, would be more anti-proliferationist, Mishra said: “She has also more or less indicated that as far as Asia is concerned, her pride of place for foreign policy would be given to China.”

... contd.