BJP walks out over Copenhagen; Ramesh terms it pre-planned

Government today said it will not compromise on India's interests at the Copenhagen climate change summit, but a dissatisfied opposition walked out in the Rajya Sabha.

"There is no dilution in our stand...There is simply no compromise on India's national interest," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said during Zero Hour.

However, almost the entire opposition led by BJP staged a walkout stating that it was dissatisfied over the reply by the minister, who is leaving for the summit on Thursday. Ramesh described the walkout as "pre-planned".

Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said that by announcing unilateral emission intensity cut by 20-25 per cent by 2020, India was following a "bad strategy".

He said the government was "totally altering" its stand that India would not accept any legally binding cuts and would strictly follow the per capita cut principle.

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, who would be part of the Parliamentary delegation for the summit, accused the government of coming under the US pressure.

He said even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's participation was under pressure from Washington, which was evident from the White House statement.

However, Ramesh rejected the charge, saying "this was not done under any foreign pressure".

About 193 countries are participating in the summit that began today to reach an accord to cut global emissions.