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Irked by affidavit, Congress strikes back at Fernandes

     New Delhi: The affidavit submitted to Supreme Court by the Defence Ministry on Tuesday, which said that the UPA government had found nothing wrong with the arms purchases made during Kargil War, has forced Congress to strike back at the former Defence Minister George Fernandes. In the affidavit filed in the apex court, the Defence Ministry had said that the procedure was substantially simplified for faster procurement, but denied that it violated any rules. The Congress said that the affidavit didn't give a clean chit to Fernandes. The observation that Fernandes had been going through for his alleged involvement in corruption during defence, including corruption in the purchase of caskets meant for the martyrs, had faded the victory in the Kargil war. But an affidavit submitted to SC on Tuesday absolved Fernandes of all corruption charges in defence deals. "These people who have made wild allegations do not even know what army is all about. Their allegations can really damage the morale of the army," said Fernandes. Unconvinced with the affidavit, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee called a press conference late last night, where he said that giving a clean chit to Fernandes was an unjustified inference. Now it how the Congress strengthens its case remains to be seen.

George attends BJP meet, Advani defends NDA convener  (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

     New Delhi: The convener of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), George Fernandes, today attended the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Bhartiya Janata Party. He was the only non-BJP leader, who was invited to attend the meet. The NDA convenor was welcomed by the BJP chief, Lal Krishna Advani. During his more than one-hour address, Advani defended Fernandes, as far as the allegations against him are concerned in the Coffin scam. Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Uma Bharti was conspicuous by her absence, while the Chief Minister of the state Babu Lal Gaur was sitting next to the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chauhan was also present during the ceremony. Informed sources said that Uma has left for Kailash Parvat.

Good governance need not win elections: Advani (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Addressing the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Bhartiya Janata Party, in New Delhi, party chief L.K.Advani said that good governance does not necessarily lead to victory in elections. Citing the examples of Bihar and West Bengal, he said that the two states are best examples of misrule; still the parties ruling them have been on the throne for quite a long period. Lalu Prasad's RJD ruled over Bihar for 15 continuous years, before being ousted in the recently concluded elections, while the left combine is ruling West Bengal for the last three decades. "BJP was having the capacity of 182 in the parliament in 1999, it came down to 138 in the 2004 elections. We performed well, gave a good governance but were unable to perform well in the elections," said Advani.

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