NEW DELHI, JULY 26: BJP, the dominant partner in the Nationalist Democratic Alliance (NDA), today said there was no difference of opinion in the party about a unified Janata Dal joining the coalition and the party `never suspected' any of its allies.``There is no suspicion or fear vis-a-vis the Janata Dal proposal for joining NDA. we don't suspect our allies,'' party spokesman M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.``There is no confusion or difference of opinion within the party. We will take the appropriate decision at the appropriate time,'' he said.Naidu, however, categorically denied that the party leadership had prior knowledge of the development about the merger of its hitherto reliable allies Samata Party and Lok Shakti with Janata Dal.``Neither Prime Minister Vajpayee nor Home Minister Advani or party president Kushabhau Thakre or any other senior leader were in the know of things and neither had they given consent for such a merger,'' he said reacting to the claim made by Samata Party spokesman Digvijay Singh.Objecting to certain remarks made against BJP leaders by Singh, Naidu said, ``it does not behove an ally to use this type of language''.Referring to his recent visit to Karnataka, Naidu said the state unit BJP ``did not appreciate the unilateral announcement of Janata Dal leaders about merger and subsequently joining NDA. They feel BJP as a major party, in the state, will not gain by aligning with the Dal''.He said he has already apprised the central leadership, including the prime minister and home minister, of these feelings, he said.Reacting to Congress criticism of the government's handling of national security in general and the Kargil intrusion in particular, he said, ``The Congress conveniently forgets its own terrible track record of managing India's security interests when in power''.Without naming the Narasimha Rao regime, he said, ``the last Congress government acting under foreign pressure had seriously compromised India's security interests by imposing severe cuts in defence expenditures''.``Since 1947, whenever Congress was in power there was a distressing lack of political leadership and direction in security related issues and operations,'' he said.``The loss of territory during Congress rule has been no less tragic,'' he said adding that about 83,000 sq km was lost to Pakistan in 1947-48, including 5100 sq km to China and 38,000 sq km to China again in 1962.
