ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

Fernandes gets clean chit from Mamata

Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has given a clean chit to Defence Minister George Fernandes. "Mr Fernandes is just a pretext, the aim is something else," she said.

Talking to reporters, she said, "I don't think Mr Fernandes is corrupt and if there are some charges they can be discussed on the floor of the House."

Without naming All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham chief J Jayalalitha, who has been demanding that Fernandes be shifted to a less sensitive ministry, she said, "One who is the most corrupt is talking about corruption charges. This does not look nice."

She felt that there was some hidden agenda behind the entire issue of dismissed naval chief Vishnu Bhagwat.

Urging the government "to rule like a tiger and not like a cat", she said a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies had unanimously authorised Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to take the final decision on whether a joint parliamentary committee inquiry should be ordered into the issue.

Regarding Cabinet expansion, she said, "It is the prerogative of the prime minister. I don't have anything to say on this."

Asked if she would attend the AIADMK rally on April 12 at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, she said the "decision was reserved".

BJP in no mood to humour Jaya

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report