That's not true. PVN would not have dared to initiate and implement such a colossal program in complete secrecy, and then not test it due to lack of balls.
The rest of the world would have sanctioned us if they got a whiff of it at any stage of our programme - not just after testing. Look at the history of other countries suspected of developing nukes - Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lybia, NK etc. They all had to face sanctions far more damaging that what we faced, not to mention airstrikes on their facilities.
The decision to press the button for the tests would always be with the PM of India - no matter who the PM happened to be, or from which party. If PVN was still in power, he definitely would have authorized the tests, having risked a lot to have a nuke development program.