New Delhi, Dec. 7: A political storm brewed over the Indo-US nuclear deal today with the BJP targeting the Prime Minister and getting snubbed by foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon.

Former foreign minister Jaswant Singh alleged that Manmohan Singh had been guilty of “demeaning conduct”, amounting to a breach of protocol, by lobbying for the bill with US Senate majority leader Bill Frist.

“It is extremely odd for the Prime Minister to be lobbying with the present US Senate majority leader who now retains that office for just a few weeks. Why has the PM engaged in such demeaning conduct?” the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha asked.

Barely two hours later, Menon — with US under-secretary of state for political affairs Nicholas Burns sitting by his side — reacted.

“It is not demeaning conduct,” the foreign secretary said when asked for comment. “It seems that there has been a complete misunderstanding of the democratic way of functioning. We have been working with the US for the last 18 months. If somebody talks to us, we talk back. I can’t see how protocol gets in the way.”

Jaswant said the Indian embassy in the US had not been officially shown the final text of the bill, but added, “Many of the amendments India was concerned about and wanted eliminated have been retained.” He cited three:

* The portion about Delhi’s ties with Iran, retained after merely changing it from a “Presidential determination” to a “reporting requirement”.

* Section 106, which bans any uranium-related export.

* Section 107, which requires an end-use monitoring programme relating to US exports and re-export of nuclear material.

Asked how he knew this when even Indian embassy officials had not seen the final text, Jaswant said: “I have my own sources. You forget, I am a student of this subject.”