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Mahajan denies he's been gagged by the government

A correspondent in New Delhi

Has Pramod Mahajan has been silenced?

Reports had suggested that there would be no more 4.30 pm "press briefings" sitting under the shade of a tree at his residence, no more off the cuff remarks, no salty quips and earthy images. No nothing, by order of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. At least that is was what one report suggested.

But Mahajan denies that Vajpayee had asked him to discontinue his regular press briefings.

"There is no truth in these reports," he said, adding that his dealings with the media would continue.

The correspondent who wrote the report should have checked with him before getting the story published, he said, adding that interaction with the media was started when some correspondents complained they were getting no news from the PMO. He said he had not met the media due to other pressing engagements, he said.

The report had suggested the official viewpoint would be delivered to the media only by the prime minister's principal secretary Brajesh Mishra and Foreign Secretary K Raghunath. And that in return for stepping out of the limelight, Mahajan -- who holds the extra-constitutional post of political advisor to the prime minister -- will be given a Rajya Sabha ticket, and perhaps even a berth in the Cabinet.

It had said that Vajpayee was upset by the way senior political leaders have been mouthing their individual agendas in media briefings, the immediate provocation being Mahajan's mocking of the Chinese claim that India was the aggressor in 1962, at a time the ministry of external affairs had consciously avoided comment.

Immediately thereafter, Khurana got into the act, with a statement to the effect that "If Pakistan wants to fight another war with us, let them tell us the time and place, we are ready for it."

Brajesh Mishra, briefing the media on Thursday, soft-pedalled the issue and struck a conciliatory note with regard to Pakistan and China.

In a bid to make the government's position crystal clear -- not just for domestic, but also for international, consumption -- Mishra said that India does not want a war with Pakistan and, further, that it is ready to continue dialogues with China.

Interestingly, the go-soft directive also appears to have impacted on Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani. Two days after warning Pakistan to roll back its anti-India policy or face consequences, Advani stonewalled all further questions on the subject, on Friday, with a firm, "No comment, I can only talk about electoral reforms today."

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