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Former naval chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat said that the defence deals scam made it clear that the government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has compromised national security.
Bhagwat was on a three-day visit to Orissa, to deliver a talk on national security and meet people.
"This fact is evident from the tehelka tapes," he said.
He told rediff.com that Vajpayee's foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya was mentioned in the tehelka.com tapes. This apart, Vajpayee tried to defend his defence minster following the expose, which revealed Vajpayee's soft corner for the people allegedly involved.
While describing the expose of corrupt defence deals as the tip of the iceberg, Bhagwat said it was just the beginning.
"If the National Democratic Alliance Government was allowed to remain in power for a five-year term, the country will become a slave of enemy countries," he warned.
He further alleged that many defence personnel and officials were promoted or transferred to key posts, for smooth passage of crucial files.
He said expose had shown how low leaders of the NDA government could stoop.
Taking a dig at Fernandes, Bhagwat said he was a man with a dubious character. "Fernandes should be given Oscar for best action as he has acted so successfully to fool all people for so many years," he said. The same man [Fernandes] gave a clean chit to former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharief and the Inter-Service Intelligence only a few months back over Kargil intrusions and now he was claiming that the release of the tapes was the game-plan of the Pakistani spy agency."
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