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Vajpayee meets Sonia on CTBT

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Friday initiated the process of consultations with the opposition parties in an effort to have a consensus on the crucial issue of signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty following a meeting with the Congress party leaders.

The Congress delegation led by its president Sonia Gandhi was given a detailed briefing on various aspects of the CTBT and the consequences of signing it. Briefing newspersons after a one-and-a-half-hour meeting, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said Sonia Gandhi had told the government that she would get back to them after holding detailed consultations with other party colleagues and could seek one more meeting with the government.

The Congress leaders declined to speak about the meeting and its outcome. Jaswant Singh said it was a ''candid discussion'' covering all matters involved with the CTBT. The Congress delegation included two former foreign ministers -- Pranab Mukherjee and Natwar Singh. The other members were Dr Manmohan Singh, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Madhav Rao Scindia, the deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha.

Jaswant Singh said the second round of the consensus meetings would be held on Monday. Though he declined to state who would be called for the discussions, the indications were that the Communist Party of India-Marxist would be invited as it is the second largest party in the Lok Sabha.

India had refused to fall in line with the west on the issue of signing the CTBT, on the grounds that it was ''discriminatory'' and would go against Indian interests. Following the Pokhran tests, India had taken the stand that it was not averse to signing the CTBT with certain conditionalities.

The meeting which was held at the residence of the prime minister, was attended by Jaswant Singh, besides top officials of the external affairs ministry, experts from the Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Atomic Energy Commission.

UNI

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