Manmohan gave us what Atal refused: US expert Author: Publication: Deccan Chronicle Date: July 22, 2006
Former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was not willing to "offer much to the United States in exchange for the (civilian nuclear energy) agreement, we got more from the government of Dr Manmohan Singh," according to Dr Ashley Tellis, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Dr Tellis worked with US officials on the nuclear agreement with India.
Dr Tellis, who was earlier posted at the US embassy here as adviser to former ambassador Robert Blackwill, told Internet news site Rediff that the Vajpayee government also wanted the deal, but one could not be reached because it was not giving much to the US. He said he could not disclose what Washington had wanted from the Vajpayee government but had been unable to get.
Asked by the reporter if Dr Manmohan Singh had caved in "easily", Dr Tellis said, "There is no question of Dr Singh caving in, India has got a deal that it would not have got in the past or in the future." Sources close to Mr Vajpayee said there were three points that his government was not willing to concede to Washington with a clear record of this being established through the Jaswant Singh-Strobe Talbott talks. These concerned the CTBT, the moratorium on fissile production and a proposed restrain in the nuclear regime.
