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Fernandes' mission sparks rumours

Shireen in Hyderabad

Defence Minister George Fernandes airdashed to Hyderabad on Thursday night and met Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Fernandes' unscheduled trip to Hyderabad and his 90-minute-long meeting past midnight with Naidu has fuelled speculation that he had come as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's emissary. The ''mission was to break the deadlock'' over a seat-sharing agreement between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telugu Desam Party, a source said.

Leaders of the BJP and the TDP had been engaged in a war of words over the issue.

However, Fernandes refused to disclose any details of his talks with the TDP chief.

Asked if he had come as Vajpayee's emissary, Fernandes offered 'no comments'.

Asked whether he had come to invite the TDP to join the National Democratic Alliance, Fernandes said that "he is a seasoned politician who knows what to do".

As exasperated newsmen asked him about the possibility of a poll tie-up between the BJP and the TDP, he said, "Let us wait and see."

Fernandes, who arrived in Hyderabad by a scheduled flight last night, went to Naidu's residence around 2230 hours and remained closeted with him till midnight.

Sources said that the two leaders discussed the national political scene in the backdrop of the recent happenings like the Kargil conflict, the controversy in the BJP over the Janata Dal (Sharad Yadav faction)'s move to join the NDA and the political situation in Andhra Pradesh.

"George Fernandes did not appear quite cheerful when he emerged from the meeting with Chandrababu Naidu. Apparently, he failed in his mission, whatever it was," a TDP leader said.

The rumour mill also has it that Fernandes could be trying to fish in troubled waters by seeking the support of Naidu for the emerging informal front comprising the Samata Party, the Lok Shakti and the Janata Dal (Sharad Yadav faction).

Since the Samata Party is virtually non-existent in the state, there is nothing that Fernandes could do by seeking a tie-up with the TDP.

In the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, the Samata Party was allotted two constituencies by the BJP in the state.

The Samata Party's performance was quite disastrous as it could get only 9,126 and 3,044 votes in Eluru and Peddapalli constituencies respectively. In the 1998 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP refused to have any poll tie-up with the Samata Party in Andhra Pradesh.

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