As this segment began to count the BJP, Left and the SP in the same basket, the saffron party knew it’s time to chart a different course. The amended positioning of the BJP reiterates the party’s efforts — while in government — for better relations with the US, of which nuclear deal is only one aspect.

Opposition to the deal will be qualified and restricted to the testing and fuel supplies question, which the party feels, will be in resonance with its political constituency. Advani’s statement comes just days after the RSS openly backed the Left on the opposition to the deal.

In September, top brass of the BJP and the RSS are expected to meet in Mumbai. The BJP national executive in Bhopal later in the month is also expected to deliberate on the nuclear deal, among other contemporary issues.

Meanwhile, speaking at the India-US Forum of Parliamentarians (IUFP), BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said there is a whole big world in Indo-US relationship, which we should not overlook. “Don’t judge the Indo-US relationship in terms of the success or failure of the deal,” he said.

Prasad said though the Left has an ideological problem his party’s concerns were different. “We don’t want to close the option of going in for a nuclear test when the time comes, specially because of our hostile neighbourhood”. “Indo-US amity was initiated by the NDA Government and if the Congress takes it forward we are sure to support it,” he said.