Slip-up over portfolio

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 27. It was a pregnant pause right in the beginning of his reply - and an embarrassing one. As the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, rose to reply to a discussion in the Rajya Sabha, he seemed to forget what portfolio Mr. Jaswant Singh held.

As the House waited anxiously, Mr. Vajpayee attempted to cover up his lapse by saying that since the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, had earlier held the additional charge of Defence, there was some bungling (gadbad).

Taking the cue, the Congress leader, Mr. Suresh Pachauri, reminded that had Mr. Vajpayee left the Defence portfolio with Mr. Jaswant Singh, the mix-up could have been avoided. This could have also avoided the criticism for re- inducting Mr. George Fernandes as Defence Minister before the Venkataswami Commission of Inquiry gave its report. To this, Mr Vajpayee retorted that it was difficult to satisfy the member.

Later, Mr. Vajpayee countered Mr. Eduardo Faleiro (Congress) for taunting that the Prime Minister went about in a `burqa' to avoid crossing the path with the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in New York. ``I do not have anything to hide by wearing a burqa... let me remain a man,'' the Prime Minister commented, suggesting that whatever he did was in the national interest and was not a sign of weakness.

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