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The Union Cabinet is set for an expansion on Monday but with no clear indication as to whether Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will induct Fernandes back into his team in the face of strong opposition by the Congress and the Left parties.
On Sunday, Jaswant Singh came out in support of Fernandes re-induction as Defence Minister saying the Samata Party leader was the suitable candidate for the post.
"I agree the portfolio should be given to my friend George Fernandes again. He is the right person to take over the responsibility in the present circumstances," Singh told Star News channel.
Another Union minister who came out in support of Fernandes' case for return as defence minister was senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu who said, "We have never had in the past such an honest and competent defence minister" as Fernandes.
Addressing the Golden Jubilee National Convention of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Naidu charged the opposition parties with 'double standards' for opposing the move to re-induct Fernandes in the Union Cabinet.
"There has not been a single case of corruption against the NDA govt as against the long list of scams associated with the Congress and other parties. They have always believed in and practiced double standards," Naidu said.
However, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) General Secretary Harikishen Singh Surjeet told reporters in Hyderabad, "Re-inducting Fernandes close on the heels of (Venkataswami) Commission's remark that the Tehelka tapes were genuine and not doctored, is ridiculous."
Under the circumstances, he said the CPI-M would oppose any move to reinstate Fernandes, who faces serious allegations, into the Union Cabinet.
The move is facing resistance within the Samata Party itself with Member of Parliament Prabhunath Singh opposing the re-induction till Fernandes was cleared of the charges levelled against him by the Tehelka expose.
"George should not be in the race for a ministerial berth till he was cleared of the charges levelled against him by Tehelka" as his image had 'already suffered a blow' when he was forced to quit as defence minister after the Tehelka expose, Singh said in Chapra (Bihar).
PTI
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