M A I N   N E W S

Congress hears George’s speech, Left, RJD boycott
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 18
Defence Minister George Fernandes’s speech during the Opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion against the Vajpayee government was heard by the Congress but was boycotted by the Left, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other smaller parties.

Mr Fernandes, who got an opportunity to speak in the Parliament after a gap of 22 months, in the presence of the main Opposition party, strongly refuted the charges bundled against him on the issue of purchase of coffins by his Ministry and on the PAC issue

The Defence Minister’s speech saw frequent war of words between the Congress and the ruling NDA members. At one stage after heated exchanges, Samata Party MP Prabhunath Singh rushed menacingly towards the Congress Benches but was stopped by his NDA colleagues.

Terribly angry over the campaign against him for the past 22 months, Mr Fernandes challenged Ms Sonia Gandhi to produce evidence that he and the Vajpayee government had made money in the purchase of coffins.

In his effort to turn tables, the Defence Minister asked whether the Leader of the Opposition and leaders around her were trying to suggest that the Army had made money in the coffin purchases.

The moment, Mr Fernandes said this, Congress deputy leader Shivraj Patil objected saying that neither Ms Gandhi nor anyone else in his party had said that and they were merely referring to the observation made in the CAG report.

In a hard-hitting intervention in the Lok Sabha in the debate on the no-confidence motion punctuated by repeated attacks on Ms Gandhi, he said if he had made money out of jawans’ blood “I am not fit to be a member of the House”.

Throwing the gauntlet at Ms Gandhi, the Defence Minister said House rules provide for punishing those who speak lie. “If I have spoken a lie, I should be punished. Similarly, if the Leader of the Opposition has done so, she should be punished,” he added.

Congress members reacted strongly when Mr Fernandes at the end of his 90-minute speech said he would request Ms Gandhi to help extradite Ottavio Quattrochhi, one of the accused in the Bofors pay offs. “It will be a great job”, he said.

Govt will emerge victorious, says Vajpayee

New Delhi, August 18
Facing the first no-confidence motion against his government, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today said the coalition would fight out the “challenge”, but he was at a loss to know the timing of the Opposition move.

Addressing MPs belonging to the National Democratic Alliance shortly before the Lok Sabha was to begin discussion on the Congress-sponsored motion, he asserted the government would emerge victorious.

“We have been waiting for a long time for the Opposition to challenge the government,” he said but added he did not know why the Opposition had moved the no-trust motion and “that too at so late a stage”.

Mr Vajpayee said he was proud of the unity of the NDA and its supporting parties. “We are all together and the world cannot believe that so many parties could come together,” he said.

The Prime Minister will host a dinner to the NDA MPs tomorrow night after the Parliament sitting. — PTI