The India-United States nuclear agreement is the 'need of the hour' for the country's development, according to Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.

"It is the need of the hour. All must try to understand it," Lalu said while explaining his campaign for the nuclear deal.

"I fail to understand the opposition to the deal. After all, it is in national interest; India is not selling out its interests at all," the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo told mediapersons at Bodh Gaya on Saturday.

Lalu, who is a member of the United Progressive Alliance-Left Committee on the nuclear deal, said that the perception -- about India becoming ' a slave of the US' after signing the deal � was wrong.

At the RJD's national executive meeting on Friday, the party adopted a resolution endorsing the Indo-US nuclear deal.