INDIA: BJP Says Not to Alter India's No First Use Nuclear Weapons Policy If It Comes To Power

NEW DELHI (NNN-Xinhua) -- India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made it clear that it will not alter the country's "no first use" nuclear weapons policy if it comes to power after the ongoing general elections.

"The no first use policy for nuclear weapons was a well thought out stand. We don't intend to reverse it," BJP chief Rajnath Singh said in an interview to a local newspaper published Monday.

The BJP President's remarks came in the wake of its poll manifesto released on April 7 in which the party said that it would "revise and update" India's nuclear policy.

India adopted its nuclear policy after conducting a series of nuclear tests in 1998 during the last BJP-led government's rule from 1998 to 2004.

The results of the general elections, which began on April 7, are due on May 16, after the nine-phase polling ends on May 12. And, the BJP is projected to form the next government. –NNN-XINHUA