After External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee turned down Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Kishenchand Advani's demand of extending the 15-member committee on the nuclear deal to a joint parliamentary committee probe, the party decided to block proceedings in Parliament forcing the government to think about cutting down the monsoon session.

"Pranab Mukherjee met me this morning and said the government was in no position to accept a JPC probe," Advani said at a press conference in Parliament House on Wednesday.

"Even as Parliament was fully seized of the Indo-US nuclear agreement and was awaiting a full discussion on it, the government constituted a parochial and partisan committee, outside Parliament to examine fully the implications of both the Henry J Hyde US-India Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006 and the commonly called 123 Nuclear Cooperation Agreement," he said while addressing newsmen.

He made it clear that it was his party which had been demanding two things right from the beginning; one was a JPC probe and the second, an amendment in the Constitution to give Parliament power to approve or disapprove international treaties on the lines of the American Congress.

Advani told Mukherjee that he could not make any commitment without consulting his colleagues in the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance.

This is a deliberate and blatant violation of Parliament's rights, prerogatives and privileges.

The setting up of a private committee is a total negation of the opposition's rights and role in Parliament.

It triviliases the high importance of a vital national issue impacting our national security and the country's strategic autonomy for the next half century.

"The government has voluntarily handed over decision making to the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Left Front. There is now apparently no Central government effectively holding the reins of office; the Communists have been handed over power to decide the future of India, but without any responsibility. This abdication by the government of its responsibility is a betrayal of their oath. The NDA cannot accept this. Even now the government must recognise the perilous path on which they are obstinately set," Advani demanded.

He emphasised that nothing less than joint parliamentary probe would be acceptable to the BJP and its allies.