The ruling United Progressive Alliance government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is poised to clash with the opposition National Democratic Alliance when the government raises the issue of intelligence failures prior to the Kargil conflict in 1999, when the NDA was in power.

The matter will figure in both houses of Parliament during the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address to the joint session on Monday.

There is some evidence that sparks will fly, given that NDA MPs have already held a meeting to chalk out their strategy to fight charges of negligence. The UPA, led by the Congress, alleges that the failures of the intelligence community caused a delay of more than a week before action was taken, resulting in the deaths of many Indian soldiers.

Stung by the allegation, former defence minister George Fernandes told reporters that the NDA government had promptly swung into action after the air force chief said preparations for the operation were complete.

NDA sources told rediff.com that Fernandes had pointed out at its MPs' meeting at the Parliament annexe that no internal report was generated on the Kargil issue during NDA rule; otherwise he, as defence minister, would have seen it.

Sources said Fernandes and a few NDA MPs questioned the internal report on Kargil, since it was datelined Chandigarh. Major General Surendra Singh, the man who was in charge of the Kargil sector at the time and who was sacked for failing to detect the Pakistani intrusion, now lives in Chandigarh. Fernandes allegedly said that no serving officer would indict the political leadership on matters involving national security.