Conceding that the Indo-US nuclear deal was “something that didn’t work out the way you wanted it to” and that it did have an “effect” on his government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today reminded his UPA partners that “they were part and parcel of the Cabinet process” when the 123 agreement was approved.

At the same time, he was in a combative mood in rejecting the BJP demand for his resignation over the setback to the deal. The BJP, he said, was “least qualified to talk about our moral right to govern” since it was in power when the Gujarat “holocaust” took place, when the Agra Indo-Pak summit ended in a fiasco, and was “sleeping” when the Pakistanis intruded into Kargil.

Speaking to reporters on his way home from the IBSA Summit in South Africa, Singh, responding to a question on opposition to the nuclear deal from within the UPA, said: “In life one has to live with uncertainties. As far as the Cabinet is concerned, let me remind you that the Political Affairs Committee of the Cabinet, which has representatives of all major political parties in the coalition, had approved the 123 agreement. This agreement was approved by the Cabinet. So I don’t know what you say about the UPA going back on it. They were part and parcel of the Cabinet process.”

Earlier this week, DMK chief M Karunanidhi, speaking to The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk programme (it will be telecast at 9.30 pm on Saturday, October 20), had said he had doubts on the nuclear deal even before the Left raised its objections

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