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Fernandes' reply to Bhagwat's allegations on April 12

Union Defence Minister George Fernandes has disclosed that he will make a statement before Parliament on April 12 regarding the corruption allegations levelled against him by sacked naval chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat.

Addressing the media at Hajgolee in Kolhapur district yesterday, he said the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's attacks on Yugoslavia was ''a matter of exhibition of power by America defying the United Nations norms''.

''There is nothing new in this as America had earlier indulged in such practices by attacking Iraq and other nations,'' he said.

There is no truth in former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's charges regarding the purchase of Russian tanks, since the proposal had been approved by a committee comprising three army chiefs, he said.

In Bombay, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan described Fernandes as the best defence minister that India ever had.

''Nobody is more secular than Mr Fernandes... He is the simplest and the most hard-working defence minister,'' he said while addressing the concluding session of the Jan Jagaran Abhiyan of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday. ''I must say he is the most efficient and best defence minister in the world today.''

Mahajan, who was the defence minister in the 13-day BJP-led government in 1996, said, ''Not many of us know that he is nearing seventy... But see his devotion and commitment to the country... He has gone to Siachen in sub-zero conditions.

''Nobody stops you when you enter his house. There are very few guards and he moves around the whole country and even the world freely. Anybody can meet him at any time. Simplicity still remains a part of his life.''

Mahajan pointed out that Fernandes cares for the officers and men who defend the country. He added that Fernandes is making all efforts to introduce proxy-voting for soldiers.

UNI

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