PM has suddenly woken up to virtues of Indo-US deal: Congress leader Manish Tiwari

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit in a five-nation tour, senior Congress leader Manish Tiwari on Friday said that in the last two years there has been “no new idea” in Indo-US relations.

Commenting on the prime minister’s and  US President Barack Obama’s reaction on the start of preparatory work on six nuclear reactors in India – a key step in closing the first deal stemming from a US-India civil nuclear accord struck over a decade ago – Tiwari said, “The prime minister has suddenly woken up to virtues of Indo-US deal. In 2008, he had said that deal is a sellout and against national security.”

During his five-day tour, Modi also visited Afghanistan, Qatar, Switzerland and Mexico with an aim to bolster ties.

“In substantive strategic terms, NDA govt has ensured India is bystander in Afghanistan. Except for platitudes on some exchange of information on black money, there has been nothing substantive of Modi’s Switzerland visit,” Tiwari added.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi returned home on Friday after the tour whose highlight was his meeting with Obama and address to US Congress in Washington. Besides addressing a joint sitting of the US Congress, Modi received the backing of two key Nuclear Suppliers Group members - Switzerland and Mexico - for its bid to secure the membership of the 48-nation bloc.

 With inputs from agencies