BJP TODAY

June 1--15, 2003 - Vol. 12, No. 11

Congress MP defies Sonia in national interest
"Boycott of George not more important than national security" -Laxman Singh
By Our Special Correspondent

Sonia Gandhi-led the Congress Party's irrational decision to boycott Defence Minister George Fernandes in Parliament and walking out whenever he makes an attempt to speak put paid to in the Lok Sabha on May 8 when as many as four Congress Members of the House did not join the rest of the Party when George rose to reply to the calling attention motion on frequent mishaps involving Mig aircraft, tabled by one of them, Jagmeet Singh Brar. The other three were: Lakshman Singh of Rajgarh, Madhya Pradesh (brother of Chief Minister Digvijay Singh), Vilas Muttemwar (Nagpur), and K.P. Singh Deo (Dhenkanal, Orissa).

The Congress Party has been boycotting George ever since he was re-inducted as Defence Minister, after initially he had resigned on the Tehelka issue. "We do not recognise him as the Defence Minister", used to be the refrain of the Congress M.Ps who would either boycott the House when George would rise to speak or prevent him from speaking.

On May 8, to the utter horror of Congressmen, these four M.P.s continued to stay in the House and Jagmeet Singh Barar even put questions to the Defence Minister. This was a "sacrilege" for the Sonia Congress, even though the question involved national security.

Jagmeet. who in the past too had defied party whips, however apologised to the leader when he was served with a show cause notice. However. Lakshman Singh remains defiant (The other two were not issued notices). He told the Pioneer recently: "I will definitely raise the matter in future if it is related to national security. Boycott of George Fernandes is not more important than the Nation's security", he asserted.

Asked if that was not open defiance of Party leadership's diktat, he asked: "What defiance?".