Govt hesitant to discuss Shah’s alleged Sangh links

NEW DELHI: No one in the government wants to comment on the startling revelation that President elect Barak Obama's  transition adviser, Sonal Shah is a closely linked to the Sangh Parivar overseas's chapter. ``We have no idea, and we don't react to press reports, anyway she is a US citizen and her appointment is an internal issue of a foreign country, '' is the standard response  from foreign service officials. But privately those close to the Congress and opposed to the BJP are quite rattled.

But most believe that Obama probably has little idea of what these links mean in the Indian context. `` It is extremely silly for the Obama camp not to have done a through background check of people in the transition team,'' says former ambassasdor Arundhuti Ghosh, though he unsure about the truths of these reports. Analyst K Subrahmanyam, is unperturbed by the reports of Shah's VHP links. He was irritated at the tendency to ``titillate and exaggerate.'' ``Let us not jump to hasty conclusions,'' he said.