BANGALORE: The former Defence Minister George Fernandes has said that there will be radical changes in the political scenario after the Assembly elections.

Mr. Fernandes, who was here to call on the family of thespian late Rajkumar here, told presspersons on Friday that it was, however, unlikely that the constituents of the NDA and the United Progressive Alliance would shift in favour of a "Third Front" as was being expected by some political leaders. Most of the regional political parties revolved around the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party and a change was highly unlikely. Also, there were too many "third fronts" in existence, he said.

Whether there would be mid-term elections to the Lok Sabha as a fall-out of the political realignments subsequent to the Assembly elections, he said it was unlikely as the Congress would not opt for them. On the contrary, efforts would be made to continue with the same arrangement irrespective of the differences between the Congress and the Left parties.

About the serious internal differences in the Janata Dal (United) and the recent election of the former Union Minister, Sharad Yadav, as its national president, Mr. Fernandes said it was all due to the lack of internal democracy in the party. He, however, would not like to say that the "party had been hijacked" but made it clear that the party suffered from internal problems because of a "formation" within the party. "It is an internal problem and will be sorted internally. Efforts are already on. There is no need to go before the Election Commission or before the courts," he said.

He recalled his own action in walking out of the erstwhile Janata Dal in disgust after efforts to correct "the corrupt practices of Lalu Prasad failed." He had persuaded the former Prime Minister, V.P. Singh, and the former Karnataka Chief Minister, S.R. Bommai, to prevail upon Mr. Lalu Prasad and "when nothing worked I walked out and floated the Samata Party," he said.

Referring to reports that in the light of the developments in the Janata Dal (U) he was planning to revive the Samata Party or float a new political party, Mr. Fernandes said there was no truth in such reports. It was an internal problem in the Janata Dal (U) and it would be sorted out. As such the Samata Party had merged with the Janata Dal (U) and there was no question of reviving it. "Nobody can hijack the Janata Dal (U). I have built the party. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar joined me later and Mr. Sharad Yadav, who was initially against the Janata Dal (U), joined it only a year and a half ago. Of an electoral college comprising around 1,000 members, 401 voted in favour of Mr. Sharad Yadav in the party presidential elections and the remaining 600 boycotted them. All these 600 members are my supporters," he said.

About the change of Government in Bihar and the governance of the State, Mr. Fernandes said Mr. Nitish Kumar was working at halting the deterioration.

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