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Fernandes calls on Jaya

Union Defence Minister George Fernandes called on All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham general secretary J Jayalalitha at her Poes Garden residence in Madras today.

The meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, assumed significance in the backdrop of Jayalalitha's recent statement that her party's option of continued alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre was still open.

In an informal chat with the media later, Fernandes declared that there would be no mid-term poll and that the Vajpayee government would last its five-year term.

He said Jayalalitha had no grievances against the Centre and that they did not discuss her plans regarding continued support to the coalition government.

Asked about Jayalalitha's statement that she would not sign the declaration issued by the coordination committee, Fernades said it was not very important that Jayalalitha should sign the document, implying that he had failed to persuade her to sign it.

The Delhi declaration was only a statement of intent that coalition partners should resolve their differences in the coordination committee and there could be no differences among the parties on this, he added.

UNI

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