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Reinstate Bhagwat or shift George: Jaya

George Iype in New Delhi

As she wound up her five-day Delhi visit on Tuesday, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha stepped up pressure on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to shift George Fernandes out of the defence ministry.

"If the government is seriously interested in putting an end to this controversy, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat should be reinstated, or else George Fernandes should be shifted to another ministry," Jayalalitha told Rediff On The NeT, in an exclusive interview.

"Publicly the prime minister has said he will shift Fernandes. But when I raised the matter with him privately, Vajpayee did not say yes or no," she revealed on Tuesday.

Before Jayalalitha left Delhi for Chennai, BJP leaders -- including Home Minister L K Advani and Human Resource Development Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi -- requested her not to insist on Fernandes's removal.

Armed with sensitive files and important documents, Fernandes met Jayalalitha at the Taj Mansingh Hotel on Monday night, presenting her with the circumstances that compelled the government to dismiss the navy chief.

Jayalalitha refused to divulge details of the documents the defence minister presented before her, but said she is dissatisfied with Fernandes's explanations. "He spoke to me for 90 minutes in my hotel room. But even after that, my stand on the Bhagwat issue remains the same," the AIADMK leader said.

She said she wants the government to institute a Joint Parliamentary Committee to enquire into the episode.

"Several serious allegations have been made against the defence minister. It involves serious corruption charges involving thousands of crores. All these have a bearing on national security," Jayalalitha added.

While the BJP and its other allies have thrown a protective ring around Fernandes and defended his performance as defence minister, AIADMK sources said Jayalalitha's insistence that Fernandes be removed is significant.

"The prime minister has not implemented many of our demands in the past year. Jayalalitha hopes that Vajpayee will be forced to throw out Fernandes because the whole Opposition is backing the AIADMK on the Bhagwat issue," an AIADMK official told Rediff On The NeT.

He believed the renewal of friendship between Jayalalitha and Congress president Sonia Gandhi "has frightened the Vajpayee government."

"Vajpayee cannot but act on Fernandes, given the changing political equations," the AIADMK leader felt.

As BJP leaders await the reconvening of Parliament on April 12 with trepidation, many believe Vajpayee, forced by Jayalalitha and a united Opposition, may eventually shift Fernandes out of the defence ministry.

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