New Delhi: Samata Party president George Fernandes on July 15 asked his senior party colleague and Railway Minister Nitish Kumar to withdraw his resignation after he insisted on quitting and refused to go to office.

"I hope Nitish Kumar will have a second thought on his resignation from the government and withdraw it," Fernandes told reporters in reply to a question.

Fernandes, who is Defence Minister as well as National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convener, said that he had a 45-minute talk with Kumar, during which he tried to persuade him to withdraw his resignation.

Shortly after he reached home after a two-day meeting of the party on July 14 night, Fernandes said he received a call from Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that Kumar had resigned from the Union Cabinet.

He told the Prime Minister that the resignation should be rejected and that was done, Fernandes said.

Replying to a question that he was "encouraging indiscipline" in the party, Fernandes said it was true that there was indiscipline and there were only a few people who really followed the rules.

"In this party, anybody can say anything and anybody can abuse anyone. There is no limit to it," he said.

PTI