Former NDTV Hindi anchor Pankaj Pachauri took over from Harish Khare as prime minister Manmohan Singh‘s media Man Friday barely six months ago. It was seen as a scam- and scandal-tainted UPA’s desperate attempt to reshape the prime minister’s image in the eyes of the media and its consumers.
Now, as the economy goes into a tailspin and the PM himself gets sucked into the turbulence of “Coal Gate”, the following item appears in Glass House, the gossip column of India Today magazine in its upcoming issue.
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OFF THE AIR
The prime minister’s communications adviser, Pankaj Pachauri, chose to remain, quote inexplicably, incommuncado for the press delegation accompanying Manmohan Singh on his historic trip to Myanmar capital Nay Pyi Taw, the first visit by the Indian prime minister in 25 years.
Pachauri did not intereact with the media on the PM’s special flight. He missed the foreign secretary’s press conference at the conclusion of the prime minister’s talks with his Myanmarese counterpart. He was not even seen in the hotel at which the media was staying.
Little wonder that the Prime Minister’s media image is taking a battering.
Photograph: courtesy India Today
Also read: At 7, Race Course Road, this is Pankaj Pachauri
IJR 