Fernandes told correspondents after a Cabinet meeting this morning that neither the Nawaz Sharif Government nor the ISI had a hand in the infiltration in Kargil. It was a Pakistani armed forces operation, he said.

Considering that the BJP has always blamed the ISI for everything, from the Coimbatore bomb blasts in 1998 to the insurgency in J&K, BJP circles were naturally taken aback by the clean chit Fernandes gave to the dreaded intelligence service of Pakistan.

In fact, this office received several angry telephone calls asking whether Fernandes realised that he was the Defence Minister of India, not Pakistan.

Although Fernandes did not have the clearance of either the Prime Minister or the Home Minister for his statement, Government sources tried to wave away what seems to be a faux pas by claiming that it was partof a larger gameplan to divide the Pakistani establishment.

The Government appears to be banking on a calculation that by giving the impression that it is soft on both the civilian administration and the ISI, it would create a rift between them and the army, which it could exploit at some stage.

It also seems to feel that this would buy the BJP brownie points with the Indian Muslims and neutralise the possibility of the Muslim vote consolidating behind the Congress.

What the Government appears to have ignored is the impact the impression is having on its own voter base, and if the phone calls to this office are any indication, the statement by Fernandes has not gone down well with the middle classes on which the BJP is banking heavily.