Modi govt must apologise for 'misleading' country over India's NSG membership: Congress

New Delhi: Congress on Monday demanded that the Narendra Modi government apologise for ‘misleading’ the country that making India a member was on the agenda of the just concluded meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group at Vienna. “Government must apologise to the nation for telling the country that India’s membership was on the agenda of the NSG. It was not on the agenda”, party’s senior spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters claiming that there was “no discussion” on the issue at the meeting. [caption id=“attachment_2565798” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma. PTI[/caption] Sending the signal that progress on the Indo-US nuclear cooperation was started by the Congress-led UPA, he recalled that the 123 Agreement was signed by the then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Taking a dig at the government, he said while there has not been any discussion on the issue at the NSG meeting, they say that “the film is ready”. Sharma said MTCR is still a “work in progress.” He said that opposition from “northern neighbour” is still there. On Sunday, a report from Beijing had it that notwithstanding a US push for India’s NSG membership, members of the elite club “remain divided” on the issue of non-NPT countries joining it and insisted that there “was no deliberation” on the bid by India and other nations at the Vienna meeting. “There was no deliberation on any items related to the accession to the NSG by India or any other countries that are not signatories to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT),” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei had said in a statement while referring to the Vienna meeting that took place last week. He had said the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) Chair Argentine Ambassador Rafael Mariano Grossi convened an unofficial meeting of the 48-member group on 9 June. “India must get the Membership of the NSG but please Shri Narendra Modi and Amit Shah - you are less and inadequately informed, on these matters, please do not mislead the people by continuously making false and tall claims about your achievements,” he said. Targeting the Prime Minister, Sharama said the just concluded National Executive meeting of the BJP in Allahabad, saw Modi “characteristically indulging in self-praise and attacking the Opposition for being anti-Development.” Insisting that the Congress has cooperated with the Government in the passage of important legislation, he said the government should refrain from giving advice to the opposition.