Under pressure from cabinet colleagues, prime minister to have weekly media briefings; in 7 yrs as PM, he has held only 3 nationally televised press meets.
Better late than never: PM Manmohan Singh has realised that having the media as a friend can work wonders, especially while dealing with Team Anna or Baba Ramdev; or for that matter with some of the more ambitious among his senior colleagues.
While Singh never spoke up before the media, opposition political parties, members of civil society and followers of the yoga guru made the media a platform to slam the government and criticise its policies. They also questioned Singh’s silence on important matters like corruption.
Now, Singh, often perceived as one who was incapable of defending his government publicly, has decided to clear the air on several issues — mainly the bill, the fiasco with Ramdev and corruption — by meeting editors. The first such interaction with editors of regional and national dailies would be held on Wednesday.
While the PM has decided to speak his mind, Anna Hazare on Tuesday kept up his loud talk. For the umpteenth time he said he would go on an indefinite fast from August 16 if talks with the government over the Lokpal Bill failed. “The police used lathis to disperse Baba Ramdev’s followers. We are ready to face bullets,” he reiterated. Hazare was commenting on Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s remark that the government would deal with his agitation sternly like it had with Ramdev’s protest. Hazare also made it clear that Ramdev would have to sit out, one among the audience, if he wanted to join in the fast. “We have some basic points of contention... till they are resolved we cannot share the dais.”
Though it was not clear who came up with the idea of Singh talking to the media, Harish Khare, his media advisor, said Wednesday’s interaction would be with a few editors. He did not clarify if it would be a one-off incident, but he did say that the government would try to have such meetings frequently.
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