Monday, May 28, 2007

Some inside dope on Bhargava's ouster from NKC


Outlook's gossip page says this:

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.

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