The PM made this statement after some MPs expressed reservations on the deal during Question Hour and BJP’s VK Malhotra asked Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for a debate on the issue.

Intervening during the question-and-answer on the “Nuclear Energy Deal with US”, Manmohan Singh said: “I wish to assure the House that we will never compromise in any manner which is inconsistent with the provisions of the joint statement of July 18 (2005)”. He said he was ready to make a suo motu statement on the issue as well.

With the Indo-US civilian nuclear coopertation Bill slated to come up for vote on the floor of the US House of Representatives late tonight, MPs like PC Thomas from the Kerala Congress wanted the Government to explain sections in the current US Bill that prohibit India from certain exports.

Replying to this query in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma stated that as there was still no final legislation in the US, the Government would have to wait for a conciliation but assured the member that the final bilateral agreement with US would be “within the defined templates” of the July 18 agreement between the two countries.

When other members wanted to know if this deal required India to change its foreign policy, Sharma again assured the House that this agreement was restricted to civil nuclear energy alone.

In fact, Sharma defended a series of questions from members of the Left parties, the BJP and the Samajwadi Party and categorically said that the deal related to only the civilian nuclear cooperation and that India’s strategic programme was “free from any interference”.

“Our position remains the same,” Sharma said, adding there were “no fresh obligations” or “new conditions” from the US.

But as the issue widened, Malhotra wanted a debate on the issue and the Speaker said he had no objection on this. That’s when the Prime Minister intervened and made his statement.

The PM said that he had come to the House on more than one occasion to clarify the Government’s position on the deal and that it had been making efforts to ensure “utmost transparency” with a view to promoting “overall accountability” with respect to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.

Thereafter, when Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) wanted to know the economic viability of atomic power generation, Sharma said that the deal provides ladditional access to energy sources and was also environment friendly.