Frayed Tempers in the time of Climate Change

Calling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in the dogfight that's broken out between environment minister Jairam Ramesh and the country's climate change negotiators. The negotiators are up in arms because of the way Ramesh has been embarrassing them with off-the-cuff proposals for a change in India's position on the international climate change debate.

At two recent conferences, one in Bangkok and the other in London, the negotiators faced a barrage of awkward questions from their counterparts who wanted to know why the government of India was working at cross-purposes. American climate change envoy Jonathan Pershing buttonholed senior negotiator Chandrashekhar Dasgupta at the plenary session itself, in front of all the other delegates.

The Chinese negotiator Yu Qingtai was more discreet but scathing. He dripped sarcasm during a brief encounter with the PM's special envoy Shyam Saran in London. It's being said that Ramesh is fighting a turf battle with the PMO to bring the ongoing climate change negotiations under his ministry. Never mind if it vitiates India's position and makes us look like a divided house at a time when we should be closing ranks for the difficult last lap in Copenhagen.

* * *
It was kiss and make-up time on the way to Srinagar in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special aircraft last week. The one hour plus flight brought Sonia Gandhi and her mercurial Trinamool partner Mamata Banerjee face-to-face after several weeks of distance, giving them an opportunity to clear recent differences that were threatening to destabilise their alliance.

The government's honeymoon with West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya topped Mamata's list of grievances and she spoke her mind freely. She reminded Sonia that she hasn't embarrassed the Congress or the government on price rise, sugar imports and other sensitive issues.

So why were they ruffling her feathers by playing footsie with Buddhadeb? She seemed particularly peeved with home minister P Chidambaram and his recent pronouncements on Maoist activity in Bengal. Why so pro-Buddhadeb and anti-Mamata, she wanted to know? Her complaints had the effect she desired. Since the Srinagar sojourn, the Congress has gone out of its way to placate Mamata. Spokesman

Abhishek Singhvi addressed a press conference specifically to clear the air that the Trinamool Congress is in no way linked to the Maoists. And look at the change that's come over Chidambaram. He too has gone soft on Mamata and lashed out at the CPI(M) at his monthly press conference on Friday.

* * *
The government has taken heart from Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao's silence when Manmohan Singh discussed the Dalai Lama with him at the ASEAN summit last week. The two prime ministers were seated next to each other at the state banquet and Singh siezed the moment to raise the issue. Although there was no specific talk about the Dalai Lama's forthcoming trip to Arunachal Pradesh, to which the Chinese have objected in strong terms, Wen read the subtext of Singh's formulation. Surprisingly, he kept mum and his silence has been read here as a signal that while China will make its usual protests when the Dalai Lama goes to Arunachal, it will not  press the issue beyond a point. Interestingly, the official announcement of the visit came only after this little exchange. Obviously, both sides have decided that the war will be limited to words only.

* * *
Tailpiece
A disgruntled member of the anti-Advani camp was overheard grumbling during a recent discussion on cricket: our umpire has declared him out but he's refusing to leave the field!