Mulford lobbies hard, meets Yashwant

Mulford on Monday met BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, seeking support for the deal. Sinha, who has been spearheading the BJP’s opposition to the deal, said after the meeting that, “it was a cordial exchange of views and nothing more.”

Deputy leader of the BJP in Lok Sabha, V K Malhotra said the meetings of the party core committee on Sunday and Tuesday are to finalise the party strategy in the Parliament session beginning on November 15. “The nuclear deal was also discussed but there is no change in the party’s stand,” he said.

Mulford told Sinha broadly the same things that he has been telling other BJP leaders — that the present deal is as good as it can get and the BJP should support it. Sinha is understood to have told the US ambassador that it was a bit a too late in the day for the BJP to consider any change in its position and no attempts had been made by anyone to understand the BJP position on the deal. Sinha has also told Mulford that it was not BJP’s opposition that is holding up the deal but the differences within the ruling coalition.

The BJP core group also discussed issues such as developments in Karnataka, price rise and Tehelka’s Guajrat sting operation. Factional fight in the party’s Rajasthan state unit and filing of an FIR against senior leader Jaswant Singh for serving banned narcotics at a lunch hosted by him also were came up for discussion during the BJP core group meeting.