Ludhiana, 26 July :Secretary All INdia Congress Committee and party spokesman, Manish Tewari today said that the country was now heading for a secure energy future after the Indo-US Nuclear Deal gets materialised. He said, the parliamentarians from across the political divide and the millions of Indians had overwhelmingly supported the nuclear deal and appreciated the Congress stand to risk the government in the national interest.
Addressing a press conference, here today Tewari regretted that the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Communists were speaking the same language on the nuclear deal as that of Pakistan. He observed, they had been exposed before the public and they had no defence against their decision. Their single point agenda was to bring down the government without even borthering about the national interest.
Tewari maintained that the stand of the Akali MPs from Punjab was equally disappointing. He pointed out, the Akalis had been offered a historic opportunity to play their role in supporting a Punjabi Prime Minister and that too for a great cause which they had themsevles been advocating. He said, the Akalis themselves were demadning the setting up of the nuclear power plants in the state and when the occasion for them came to support the cause they backed out.
The AICC secretary also referred to the growing power shortage in the state as even in the urban areas the power remains off for as long as 12 to 14 hours. In the rural areas it is still the worse. Under such circumstances the nuclear energy, he argued, was the best answer. He said once the deal gets formally materialised and ratified, the first nuclear power reactor should come up within two to three years. Besides the existing nuclear power plants which are not workikg to their full capacity will also get the much required fuel within six months and they would generate power to their full capacity.
Replying to a question on inflation, the AICC spokesman said, the Manmohan Singh government was quite sensitive towards the issue and the Prime Minister himself had spoken about it in the parliament. HE said, the necessary measures were being taken up in the regard and the results would show up very soon. To a specific question on the increasing prices of steel effecting the Ludhian industry in particular, Tewari said, the local MP should have pursued the cause in the parlaiment which he did not.
Senior party leaders, former ministers and legislators were also present on the occasion. They included the District Congress COmmittee,Ludhiana (urban) president, Jagmohan Sharma, former ministers Milkiat Singh Birmi and Rakesh Pandey, former parliamentary secretary Surinder Dawar, former Mayor, Nahar Singh Gill, Pawan Dewan, Raman Balasubramaniam, Akshay Bhanot, Dimple Rana and others.