Bhaskar Roy
The Times of India
May 19, 2000
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Overseas Friends of the BJP (USA) ........... Voice: (718) 271-0453 54-15, 108th St. ............................ Fax: (718) 271-1906 Corona, NY 11368............................ WWW:http://www.ofbjp.org BJP's Website: http://www.bjp.org Title: PM trips ministers' foreign travel plans Author: Bhaskar Roy Publication: The Times of India Date: May 19, 2000 NEW DELHI: Ministerial hot-footers who itch for working vacations abroad while the Indian plains sizzle in summer have been reined in by the Prime Minister. Several ministers, who had their bags packed for foreign jaunts, have been told to stay home. Some others have been told to have shorter trips than planned. A few lucky ones have got the go-ahead, though. Minister of state for steel Dilip Ray's proposal for a UK trip has been spiked. Ditto for minister of state for food processing Shahnawaz Hussain who wanted to visit Australia. Also Australia-bound were two other ministers of state, S S Dhindsa (sports) and Vallabhbhai Kathiria (heavy industry). Both have been stopped in their tracks. Surface transport minister Rajnath Singh and minister of state for communications Tapan Sikdar will have to suffer out Indian summer instead of being in the cool climes of Canada. Minister for food Shanta Kumar can't have his planned trip to the US. Nor would health minister N T Shanmugham to Australia, but his Geneva trip is on. Power minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam has to make do with a trip to Europe. His first preference was the US. Santosh Gangwar, minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Kailash-Mansoravar, in Tibet. Don't go, not while you are a minister, he was told by the PM. Minister of state for finance Balasaheb Vikhey Patil wanted a two-in-one trip to the US and Britain. He is not going anywhere. Law minister Ram Jethmalani wanted a grand tour of five countries. He will be going to just one. The PM himself is not going abroad. Instead, he will be on a Bharat Darshan. Well, OK, not entire Bharat but only six states - Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh - between May 23 and June 9, mainly to be in touch with aam janata through public meetings.
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