On 23 and 24 November 1964, when the Lok Sabha met to discuss India's foreign policy, speakers generally assumed that Bhabha's eighteen-month timeline for building a nuclear bomb was accurate, and did not suggest that a Soviet or US nuclear umbrella would extend over India in case of a nuclear attack. Ultimately, in part due to uncertainty around the cost of developing a nuclear bomb and its appropriate delivery platforms, the Parliament deferred a decision for or against nuclear weapons. The parliamentarians moved instead to speed the development of technology and know-how which would enable them to establish a nuclear weapons programme if they later decided to do so. Shastri hedged, though, that this policy was subject to change: