``It's a designed move to weaken India. The foreign powers are behind it,'' party spokesman Digvijay Singh said at a press conference here, referring to Jayalalitha's demands for the reinstatement of sacked naval chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat and sacking of Defence Minister George Fernandes.

Asked if he was accusing the AIADMK chief of playing into the hands of foreign elements, Singh said, ``Definitely.''

To a question if China was behind such demands, he said, ``I am not ruling it out.''

He said the AIADMK was not understanding the ``seriousness'' of the issue and alleged that its demands were either based on ``ignorance or vested interests''.

Party general secretary Jaya Jaitley said foreign powers ``which were against a strong India'' wanted Fernandes' ouster as Defence Minister.Attacking Leftparties for their criticism of the timing of the Agni-II launch, Singh said, ``The Left has always been the 12th man of Indian politics.''

Jaitley denied Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy's allegations that Fernandes had turned pro-Tibet and anti-China after he received Rs 30 crore from Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, through Hollywood actor Richard Gere.

Releasing copies of a letter by Gere saying that he had ``never heard of Swamy'' and that he had been making ``obviously ludicrous statements'', Jaitley accused Swamy of acting as an agent of China.

``It is a total fabrication and libelous in the extreme. Mr Swamy should be ashamed. No money was offered. No money was received. The end,'' Gere said in the letter.