India not bound by Hyde Act: Govt

Pranab responds to Leader of Oppn LK Advani's charge that Govt is misleading the House on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

As the Opposition's demand for voting in Parliament on the Indo-US nuclear deal was rejected, the government on Friday sought to allay apprehensions on the Hyde Act saying India was not bound by it.

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"I have quoted President George Bush verbatim, and not his or the White House's Under Secretary, that some provisions are advisory in nature and cannot affect the executive branch of the US Administration," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Lok Sabha.

He was responding to Leader of Opposition LK Advani's charge that government was "misleading" the House by saying that India would not be bound by the Henry Hyde Act.

Similar apprehensions were voiced by other Opposition as also Left party members while participating in an impromptu discussion on the issue. Mukherjee said this was also reflected in the Joint Statement of July 2005 and another one in 2006. "Let the House discuss it and it will be known who is right and who is wrong," he said.