NEW DELHI. Apr 3: An Indian opposition party leader today accused Defence Minister George Fernandes of secretly supporting Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger separatist guerillas, reports AFP.

Subramaniam Swamy, who heads the small centrist People's Party, told reporters that Fernandes had ordered the Indian Navy not to Intercept ships belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Swamy alleged that Fernandes had also recently met LTTE representatives in Paris and awarded a Defence Ministry contract to Indian supporters of the rebels.

The Defence Minister is already in the eye of a storm over the controversial dismissal of Navy chief Vishnu Bhagwat in December. The Government said the admiral posed a security threat.

Fernandes could not be reached for comment on Swamy's charges.

Fernandes, a socialist, is a long-time supporter of the Ti-

betan cause for independence and of Myanmar pro-democracy activists. Two years ago he organised a conference of LTTE supporters at his Delhi home.

Plot to kill Mamata?

CALCUTTA, Apr 3: Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee yesterday claimed that she has received an intelligence warning against "plots to kill her by foreign mercenaries on or before April 15." reports PTI.

Banerjee told newsmen quoting from a "warning letter" received from a person known to her in the intelligence agency that "at least 23 foreign mercenaries of Taliban in disguise as Muslim women have already surveyed her residential area in minute details.."

Refusing to identify the agency. Mamata further claimed, "Five human bombs are being scattered around Kalighat and Chetla with a view to assassinating you (Mamata Banerjee) and others on or before April 15."