Dump Indo-US nuke deal: AIADMK chief

Opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal, AIADMK Chief Jayalalitha on Saturday said the "contentious" deal was not the need of the hour and the government should "dump" it if no consensus could be reached.

"Whether the nuclear deal with the US is necessary for our country or not can be decided only after all the tenets of the agreement including the fine print were known," she said in a statement.

The tenets of the agreement have to be debated after the official version of the draft agreement was posted on Government websites for at least six months and the whole procedure had to be fully transparent and above board.

When the people were reeling under an impact of a double digit inflation, unprecedented fuel prices, hike in the prices of essential commodities, the "Minority UPA government" was "hell-bent" on pushing through with an international agreement, which had nothing to do with the people, she alleged.

"Is the agreement, which has been on the anvil for quite some time, so vital that it cannot wait for another six to eight months, when more representative dispensations will hopefully be available in both India and US," she asked in an apparent reference to US presidential elections and Lok Sabha polls.

The government, instead of concentrating on the deal, should take strong measures to control the price rise, she said.