New Delhi, Mar 13: The National Democratic Alliance, rather than the Bharatiya Janata Party, will decide who should be the next prime minister, says the NDA convener, George Fernandes. He was interacting with a group of journalists at his residence this afternoon. Mr. Fernandes also wants a kind of "formal" structure for the NDA. To begin with, he wants to have a building which the NDA could call its "office." (Towards the end of its regime, the United Front had also acquired a spacious bungalow at 7, Akbar Road).

The NDA convener told the journalists that in his view a law, including a constitutional amendment if necessary, should be passed to debar persons of "foreign origin" from holding any constitutional office. Mr. Fernandes, who is also the Defence Minister, says it is "an insult to the nation" that Sonia Gandhi should be a potential prime ministerial candidate. "I feel humiliated when I go abroad and I am asked about it (her)," he adds. Mr. George Fernandes praised the Samajvadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, for having "intervened" to stop Ms. Sonia Gandhi from becoming prime minister (when she claimed that she had "272") in 1999 after the fall of the Vajpayee Government by one vote in the Lok Sabha. "It is Mr. Yadav who saved the country's prestige."

Interestingly, another George also created a bit of news today. Vincent George, the former private secretary to Ms. Sonia Gandhi, has made a come back and has started functioning as a virtual political secretary to the Congress president. Mr. Vincent George had to leave his crucial post at 10, Janpath after the CBI had registered a case against him.