New Delhi, May 04: Stung by what he called as "ugly" campaigning in the name of Kargil martyrs on the coffins issue by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister George Fernandes today complained to the Election Commission asking it to restrain her from doing so. Asserting that such a campaign in the border areas was "demoralising" the troops stationed there, he said "dragging and demoralising the armed forces in this manner is something that just should not be allowed to continue."

Fernandes, who was earlier scheduled to meet the EC in person, sent his complaint through a petition as he had to leave for Chennai.

Insisting that the issue of purchase of reusable caskets had been clarified repeatedly, he said as Defence Minister he had nothing to do with the approval/selection process of the caskets.

Maintaining that the decision on the deal for caskets was taken exclusively by senior armed personnel and not by him at the political level, Fernandes said, "It is highly improper to feed falsehoods to the public in order to accuse the government of corruption by demoralising the armed forces and indirectly calling their integrity into question."

Bureau Report