It may need reiterating here that my statement described different situations that would arise in other countries if the head of government were to lie to its people. Bill Clinton was sought to be impeached over a small lie. In China they shoot people for indulging in corruption and would certainly use the same methodology if they felt they had been deceived on an important issue of national security by their own leader. I followed this line of expression by demanding the resignation of the prime minister, which to me is a very mild form of opposition in comparison. Jayalalithaa has today also called for the PM’s resignation for the same reason.

Against this background a small piece of mischievous nonsense has appeared in your paper under a section titled ‘Delhi Confidential’ (IE, August 20). It speculates that my attack on the prime minister could be because of some problems that one of my “close friends” was facing. Let me be upfront as is my habit and say that this “close friend”, namely R.V. Pandit, is as close and long-time a friend of The Indian Express as he is of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani, and meets all of us including the prime minister whenever he comes to Delhi to discuss matters of national interest. I know that the PM would vouch for his integrity and patriotism. The prime minister and I spoke about R.V. Pandit’s problems and share a common concern for his health and situation.

The prime minister and I are both aware of which issues are personal and humane and which are political and neither of us believe in confusing the two.

Our reply:George Fernandes deserves plaudits for his full and frank disclosure of the identity of the person referred to in our Delhi Confidential item (‘Why George bit the bullet’, IE, August 20). We must add here that Delhi Confidential items are defined by what our correspondents hear, often in whispers, in corridors of power or in corridors where coming back to power is the most serious business. We are always rigorous about checking what we hear before we publish an item. But of course there will be differences on how to interpret facts, as is the case this time. We also thank Mr Fernandes for telling us that the person in question is R.V. Pandit, who he describes, correctly, as a ‘long term friend of The Indian Express’.