BJP strongly defends Fernandes against the'Vindictive act of cong

New Delhi, Oct 11 (UNI) The BJP today strongly came in support of former Defence Minister George Fernandes a day after the CBI registered an FIR against him in the purchase of the Barak missiles, claiming the action was part of the ''vindictive Congress politics.'' BJP Spokespersons Arun Jaitley and Prakash Javadekar said that the Congress had been targetting Mr Fernandes for many years'' to punish him for daring to fight the first family of Congress for five decades.'' They boycotted Mr Fernandes in Parliament, accusing him of getting kickbacks in the purchase of coffins during the Kargil conflict and used it for elections but ultimately the UPA government had to justify his actions before the court through an affidavit, they said, claiming the nation has seen the vindictive politics of Congress against the Bachchan family and one CBI charge sheet can't destroy the impeccable selfless service of George Fernandes." Mr Jaitley and Javadekar said the unfolding events proved that the CBI was listening to their 'political masters' which could be seen in the way they handled the Bofors case and the case relating to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, allowing the cases to die down. The naming of former Supreme Court Judge Phukan, who found no wrong deal in the FIR by the CBI, showed that the whole exercise was based on ''political considerations'' and nothing else.

Mr Javadekar reminded that the UPA had ordered seven Barak missile system in January this year from the same suppliers when Mr Fernandes was accused of ordering five systems. The Barak system was selected after comparing the Russian and the French system much before the NDA assumed office and the BJP believed that the truth would prevail sooner than later.

Asked about Mr Fernandes taking the name of President A P J Abdul Kalam, the BJP Spokesman said that without the approval of the then Defence Minister's Scientific Advised the purchase could not take place. Dr Kalam was the head of Defence Research Development Organisation when the system was approved, he said.

The party also rejected the news reports that the top BJP leaders were not forthcoming in defending Mr Fernandes. "Only this morning I had a talk with senior leaders of the BJP (Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani) ... the party's convinced of his integrity. We are solidly behind Mr Fernandes", a top party leader said.

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