Date:17/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/17/stories/2008091760991300.htm

National

Am I drunk, asks Patil

New Delhi: “Main daaru peeke baitha hoon?” (Am I drunk and whiling away my time?) This was how Home Minister Shivraj Patil reacted to questions on media criticism, especially about his changing three sets of clothes on the night of the serial blasts in Delhi on Saturday.

“Blame me if I am sleeping [on the job], playing cards, drinking and whiling away my time and frequenting dance clubs,” he told India TV.

The reporter displayed a combination picture showing him in three different suits on Saturday evening. A visibly upset Home Minister said he was distressed at the level of debate plunging so low that they were now discussing his dress. “After 13 hours of work if I take a bath and change dress, is that a crime?”

To a remark that he was “not on the job” for four hours that evening, Mr. Patil said “he was not an inspector to sit in a police station all the time.” — PTI