Author:
Publication: Outlook
Date: May 28, 2007
URL: http://www.outlookindia.com/polscape.asp?fodname=20070528
In the end, it was a letter that did him in.
That's the inside story on why P.M. Bhargava, now ex-deputy chairman of the
National Knowledge Commission (NKC), was shown the door. Sources say a particularly
critical missive he shot off to a senior PMO official is what finally sealed
his case. In it, Bhargava took exception to the presence of Americans (read
friends of chairman Sam Pitroda) at meetings of the Commission relating to
education and health. The note was seen as the proverbial last straw. Ever
since the PM set up the Commission two years ago, it has had a dissension-ridden
run. Bhargava himself has been in the news-if it wasn't his anti-US posturing,
then it was his open criticism of the NKC's functioning. For the record, the
PMO says its hands are clean. After all, it was a Planning Commission note
which said the NKC was being reconstituted. How could it be blamed if Bhargava's
name didn't figure in the new members' list? Friends of Bhargava though insist
the PMO cleared the whistle-blower's exit.
