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Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
The coordination committee of the ruling National Democratic Alliance on Monday decided to readmit the Trinamul Congress and Pattali Makkal Katchi after a two-hour long meeting.
The decision to readmit the Trinamul and PMK was taken in order to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, NDA convener George Fernandes said.
When asked if any Trinamul member would be readmitted into the Cabinet, Fernandes said, "Go and ask the prime minister."
Mamata Banerjee, leader of the Trinamul, had severed ties with the NDA over tehelka.com's expose on corruption in defence deals.
The PMK had bid adieu to the NDA after differences with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam -- another constituent of the NDA -- in the assembly elections of Tamil Nadu.
Fernandes did not say anything about re-inducting Ajit Panja, the rebel leader of Trinamul and former minister of state for external affairs in the NDA government.
On Venkataswami Commission's probe into the tehelka scandal, Fernandes said, "It has been decided to speed up the hearing of the commission to safeguard the country's interest. Procurement of weapons has been delayed because the files are with the commission."
He said that Tehelka's use of prostitutes in its sting operation was also discussed during the meeting and that the Web site shoud be brought to the book.
Asked about his return to the defence ministry, Fernandes said, "It was a general topic of discussion."
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