His party may have rejected the Indo-US nuclear deal and called for its renegotiation but Leader of Opposition L K Advani has once again suggested changing or amending the Atomic Energy Act so that India is insulated from the implications of the Hyde Act.

Speaking to Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Express, on NDTV’s Walk the Talk to be broadcast tomorrow, Advani said: “...On the nuclear deal, I am still not convinced (by) the government’s arguments that it doesn’t in any way put constraints on our nuclear strategy.”

However, he added that the Government could have adopted “what I had suggested, namely a course of action by amending the Indian laws so that the Hyde Act would not apply to us,” and wished the BJP were consulted “on this issue at length.”

Asked whether this could still be done, Advani said: “I don’t know, it’s for them (the Government) to decide.” When he was asked whether such changes to the law could be created, he said: “Yes, it can be created.”

When Advani had made this suggestion last year, he had said that if the law was changed to protect India’s strategic independence, then “there is no problem with the 123 agreement.” The BJP had promptly clarified that this did not signal any change in its stand on the deal and reiterated its rejection.