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Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
The meeting of the National Democratic Alliance presided over by Prime Minister A B Vajpayee on Friday, unanimously decided that tehelka.com's allegation of corruption in defence deals would be probed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.
Briefing reporters outside the prime minister's Racecourse Road residence, George Fernandes, who was re-elected convenor of the NDA, told reporters that this was the main decision of the meeting, which was unanimously supported by all leaders present.
Fernandes, however, denied that there had been any demand by any Samata Party leader regarding an inquiry into the allegations against prime minister's principal secretary Brajesh Mishra and the PM's foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya. No such demand was made, Fernandes said.
He also said that all attempts to contact Trinamul Congress chief Mamta Banerjee failed since she refused to come to the phone. "Therefore there is no further attempt to get in touch with her now," she said.
Earlier, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told the media that the NDA meeting unanimously reposed full faith in Fernandes and underscored that after the inquiry into the expose was completed he was likely to come back as defence minister.
Mahajan said Home Minister L K Advani pointed out that the NDA would counter the opposition's allegation and fight the issue both inside and outside Parliament.
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