``I don't know why the BJP should look at this with suspicion or anxiety because what we have done is absolutely transparent,'' he said.

He denied that he had any desire to corner for himself a bigger role after the elections with the grouping of erstwhile Dal splinters.

Asked about apprehensions expressed by some BJP leaders on the coming together of the Dal splinters, Fernandes said that he had been clamouring for unity of Socialists and parties like the Lok Shakti, Samata, BJD and JD should come together.

Lok Shakti leader Ramakrishna Hegde had also agreed with his idea, which gathered momentum after the fall of the Vajpayee Government, he said. Even during the vote of confidence sought by Vajpayee, he had thought of the need for a larger platform so that MPs were notsubject to political money power. Asked if Karnataka CM J.H. Patel and his group of Dal would not be a liability for the BJP-Lok Shakti combine in Karnataka, he said: ``In politics, never write off any individual.''

He parried a question on criticism that he and Hegde had not consulted PM A.B. Vajpayee before embarking on such a move.

Fernandes also said that although the Government had lifted the ban on procurement of Bofors gun spares and the execution of the contract signed with the Swedish company in 1986, it should not be interpreted as justifying what had happened when it was purchased.

``There seems to be jubilation in some quarters about the performance of Bofors in Kargil. But that doesn't mean everything (relating to purchase) is correct,'' he said.

He said there was a need for a good 155 mm gun in the Army and the range and calibre of Bofors should be weighed against what else is available. At the moment, ``discussions are on with Bofors (celsius company of Sweden) and one is having a lookat what else is available to make it domestically,'' he said.

About the advanced light helicopter being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore, he said test flights were on now as the economic sanctions imposed by the US, in the wake of Pokharan nuclear tests in May last year, had delayed the development of the chopper's engine.