Aware that elections may not be faraway now, both sides have begun to position themselves accordingly. Rajya Sabha MP Jayant Malhoutra shot off yet another letter to Defence Minister George Fernandes today questioning among other things whether Indian intelligence had reported that the T-80 tanks Pakistan had received from Ukraine were not up to the mark, and if so, would it serve any useful purpose in purchasing T-90 tanks from Russia. One of the reasons cited for going in for T-90s was Pakistan's acquisition of T-80s.

Fernandes circulated to all the MPs his reply toMalhoutra's earlier letter raising questions on the proposed purchase. Malhoutra said he too was circulating his letter sent to the Defence Minister today to MPs.

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, who first raised the issue of T-90S tanks in Parliament, escalated the issue further today by demanding that a JPC go into the issue of the purchase of T-90S tanks from Russia. Mounting a blistering attack on the Defence Minister, a visibly angry Gowda told The Indian Express: ``The Defence Minister has dragged my name and that of my son in a recent interview. There is just no question of allowing this issue to go without a discussion on the floor of the house, even if a vote of no-confidence comes and the Government goes. There has to be a thorough probe by a JPC. I am not going to allow this issue to die down.''

Fernandes had in a recent interview to Doordarshan talked about Gowda expressing his willingness to Russian President Boris Yeltsin to consider the purchase of T-72S tanks when he had goneto Moscow in 1997.

Opposition members allege that Fernandes is now trying to make out that the Government had not yet decided to purchase T-90 S tanks. In his reply to Malhoutra, which has been circulated to MPs, he had stated that T-90 tanks would be subjected to trials in the summer of 1999 ``and any decision to acquire them will be subject to the satisfactory results of the trial as also the acceptable price being negotiated.'' However, earlier, he had indicated that a sub-committee of the cabinet had approved in principle the purchase of these tanks last December.

In preparation for the battle that lies ahead as Parliament reconvenes on April 15, Doordarshan telecast a 90-minute interview with Fernandes on different aspects of the Bhagwat affair. The Defence Minister is now getting ready with a full document to be distributed to MPs in the next couple of days giving the Government's side of the story.

The Government went in for a test launch of Agni-II yesterday and in a special telecast the PrimeMinister underlined all that his government had done in the last one year to make the country strong and self-confident. Attacked for compromising the country's security, the burden of the government's song has been that it has protected national security.

In today's letter to Fernandes, Malhoutra also questioned whether it was the stated position of the Ministry of Defence that there were no middle men, middle companies, agents or traders between the MoD and the supplier corporates in different parts of the world.