Friday, April 22 2005 18:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

On Board Special Aircraft: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Apr 22, 2005) termed as "unfortunate" the charges of corruption in a Defence deal with a South African firm during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime and said that efforts should be made to ensure that the controversy does not affect acquisition of arms by the country.

"This is unfortunate," Singh said, responding to a question about the allegations that the South African company Denel paid commission to middlemen to supply anti-material rifles to India.

"Democratic politics and competitive politics have a logic of its own. We have to make efforts to ensure that this recent development does not become a disincentive for taking decisions to acquire arms," he told reporters accompanying him to Jakarta for the Asian-African Summit.