New Delhi, Aug 18: After more than a year's boycott, the Congress today said it will hear Defence Minister George Fernandes speak on the no-confidence motion but not on the controversial defence deals, even as the NDA hit back saying he will take the Opposition head on in the Lok Sabha on its various "lies". The Congress made it clear that any attempt on the part of Fernandes to make a separate statement on defence matters or on the CVC report would be boycotted by the party.
Asserting that the Defence Minister's boycott will continue, the Congress spokesman Pawan Kumar Bansal told reporters that "the party has no objection to Fernandes speaking on the motion as he is the member of the House and leader of a party".
"We will listen to him on the motion," he said.
The BJP said the Defence Minister would take on the Opposition head-on and dispel all the "lies" propagated by it in the last one and a half years since he returned to the Union Cabinet.
BJP spokesman V K Malhotra told reporters, after the meeting of members of NDA and supporting parties, that the Defence Minister "will clear all the lies and remove the misrepresentation of facts".
Bureau Report