Patna, Oct 07: Defence Minister and NDA convenor George Fernandes today said that NDA constituents should contest the coming assembly elections in five states unitedly. "I personally favour that the NDA partners should fight the coming assembly elections in the five states unitedly," Fernandes told reporters at Patna airport.
He said if the BJP, the major partner of the coalition, decided to contest the upcoming assembly elections on its own, the other constituents of the NDA would be free to put up their candidates in the states where they were on a strong footing.
Fernandes, however, said that no formal talks had yet taken place with the BJP on contesting the assembly polls together.
JD(U) president and civil supplies minister Sharad Yadav, who arrived here along with the Defence Minister, also shared Fernandes' views that the NDA should contest the assembly elections in five states unitedly.
The BJP being the major partner of the NDA coalition, it should take the initiative to contest the elections unitedly, Yadav said, adding "if an agreement is not reached among the partners his party would contest majority of the seats in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on its own" as the party had strong base in those two states.
The two senior NDA leaders arrived here to take part in vendor development programme-cum exhibition organised by Union Small Scale Industries Ministry here.

Bureau Report