His clarifications came just in time for the BJP to decide that no damage control was required now. Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, who had been a minister in the Vajpayee government said: “Since Mr Fernandes has clarified the remarks, the BJP treats the matter as closed.”

In fact, the BJP blamed the ruling party for fanning “non-issues” and diverting attention from the Gandhi family that had come under the scanner after the arrest of Ottavio Quattrocchi. “George has already said he was misquoted by the media. By deviating from the real issue (Bofors) and harping on trivial matters of-who-said-what-to-whom, the Congress is trying to divert attention from the Gandhi family’s misdeeds,” BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra alleged.

Despite the clarifications, questions hung large over the timing of Fernandes’ remarks coming as they do just before the Uttar Pradesh elections, and his isolation within his own party.