Cherry-picked print editors now govt spokespersons

In a free wheeling interaction with a group of editors for nearly 90 minutes on Wednesday, Manmohan Singh asserted that he was not a lame duck prime minister and enjoyed the full confidence and support of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi. He also ruled out the possibility of a mid-term election saying while there can be ups and down in coalition politics his government was stable and had the numbers. He also said that none of the opposition parties were in favour of an early election as none seemed to be prepared for it. [caption id=“attachment_33519” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Alok Mehta speaks to the press after meeting with PM (screengrab CNN IBN)”]  [/caption] In what can be only termed as a bizarre situation, the five editors who came out of the Prime Minister’s Race Course residence were mobbed by waiting TV crews. Two of the editors invited for the Prime Minister’s interaction – Kumar Ketkar and Alok Mehta—ended up virtually addressing a press conference as some kind of government spokespersons. Some of the answers were actually quite interesting. Like when a journalist asked Kumar Ketkar about the body language of the Prime Minister, the veteran journalist was all praise for the “confidence, alertness and fitness” displayed by a PM who ducked no questions. In reply to a similar question the editor of Nai Duniya, Alok Mehta, said the Prime Minister has dispelled all rumors about him being a weak leader who is unable to take on the opposition. Clearly there are some advantages of cherry picking your editors for such an interaction! The following is a quick summary of what the PM told the group of editors according to Ketkar and Mehta. On the issue of the PM not being in command and handled by remote control, the Prime Minister said he was fully in command and had the final say on matters relating to the government. Not unexpectedly, he was full of praise for the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and said that he got full cooperation from her and enjoyed her confidence. He said that he and the Congress president meet virtually every week and discuss every issue of importance facing the country. On the issue of the Jan Lokpal bill he said whether it is Baba Ramdev, Anna Hazare or any other member of the civil society he was keen to listen to every shade of opinion. “After all they are also as much the citizens of this country as anyone else and everybody’s voice must be heard. But in the end there has to be a consensus.” On the issue of the PM being in the ambit of the Lokpal he reiterated that in his individual capacity he has no objection to the suggestion but he would like to listen to what others in his party and the opposition had to say on this before the government took any decision on the same. On Rahul Gandhi becoming the Prime Minister soon, Manmohan Singh said the subject has not come up for discussion in the party though he personally favoured the idea of young leaders being given more responsibility. On the issue of Dayanidhi Maran the Prime Minister said something like the judicial process will take it own course thereby clearly hinting that no political action should be expected of him. Asked about the alliance with the DMK, the Prime Minister said there are always ups and downs in coalition politics but he foresees no threat to his government. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s opening remarks at the interaction with newspaper editors