The Minister was speaking to media persons after attending a private function in this tiny village from Ajra taluka. This issue held centrestage in the conversation that included the NATO offensive and the Bhagwat furore.The Minister brushed aside Gowda's claims that irregularities lurked in India's interest in the Russian T-90s. ``Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, during his visit to Russia, had assured Boris Yeltsin about the purchase of T-72 tanks. However, he lost power and in a subsequent Indian visit to Russia, the then defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav favoured purchase of T-90 tanks after a demonstration was held.''

``However our Government has not made any deal about purchase of T-90tanks'', he hammered in. Deve Gowda had written series of letters to Ministry of Defence, accusing that government was planning to purchase T-90 tanks against a much cheaper option of T-72 tanks.

Fernandes said at a high-level committee meeting presided over by then principal secretary N N Vohra and attended by three services chiefs, T-90 tanks were favoured against T-72; consequently, Gowda's suggestion was nullified by Mulayam.

Coming to controversies that dog his own tenure as Defence Minister, Fernandes parried queries about allegations levelled against him by sacked naval chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat. He told gatherd scribes to wait for his detailed statement in the Lok Sabha during the session scheduled to start on April 12.

He was also bitter about the NATO attacks on Yugoslavia, saying it could spell the beginning of the end of the UN and Security Council's powers in matters of international disputes. He opined that the air strikes on Yugoslavia were a clear indication that the United States wastotally sidelining the authority of United Nations. Media persons had to literally coax this statement out of Fernandes.

When asked whether USA could apply same tactics over the issue of Kashmir, he said `India was not Yugoslavia and such a comparison between Kosovo crisis and Kashmir issue was improper'.