New Delhi, Feb. 21 :    New Delhi, Feb. 21:  Thanks to the activist streak in former trade unionist and defence minister George Fernandes, the issues of the coffin scam and his reinduction into the Cabinet are threatening to return to Parliament with a bang in the budget session commencing from Monday. The issues, which had stalled both Houses for several days in the winter session, had been buried after the terrorist attack on Parliament on December 13. In the intervening period, Fernandes' refusal to hand over the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) report on defence deals to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament triggered another uproar with the Opposition parties alleging that the report 'contained a lot of explosive material about the manner in which certain (defence) purchases were made'. Aggravating the matter further, Fernandes wrote to PAC chairman N.D. Tiwari and some other members to deny any scam in the purchase of coffins for the Kargil martyrs. The defence minister had also enclosed a booklet written by his journalist-friend R.V. Pandit, rubbishing the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) for pin-pointing the coffin scam. Tiwari took strong exception to Fernandes' letters as the PAC was handling the CAG report. The panel members felt that the defence minister was denigrating the CAG, a constitutional body, by writing to the PAC, another constitutional body, and circulating the booklet. The defence minister's defence was that making the CVC report public would not be in the interest of the country. But the argument had few takers. Alleging that Fernandes was trying to influence the PAC, Tiwari yesterday offered to quit the panel. He is likely to meet Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi to protest against the defence minister's 'actions'. In another controversial move, Fernandes had earlier written to the CAG, circulating the same booklet and seeking his comment. The CAG, it is learnt, kept mum but did not take kindly to his audacity in writing to him directly as the CAG is answerable only to Parliament. Fernandes had revived the coffin scam controversy last month when he asked Pandit to write a booklet, The whole Truth with Documents about the Aluminium Caskets Bought by the Defence Ministry in 1999-2000, in a bid to obtain a clean chit on the alleged scam. Pandit had convened a press conference, too, 'to put the record straight'. A Samata Party activist was seen distributing the booklet at the meet. The defence minister forwarded Pandit's booklet, based on defence ministry documents, to several MPs to establish his innocence in Coffingate. But the move backfired as the CPM and the Congress took strong objection to Fernandes' activism. Certain CPM leaders wrote to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee reiterating their demand for Fernandes' removal from the Cabinet.