Board game

In a slip of the tongue, Vedanta chief Anil Agarwal last week inadvertently found himself inviting the government to join the board of his hard-won company Cairn India. Raising concerns about the delay in clearances for oil and gas projects and explaining the success of Cairn's Barmer project, Agarwal said, "Instead of having management committees and various levels of approval, the government can put their nominee on the board of Cairn to reduce the delay approval process." This statement was made in the presence of Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily. Even as some reporters were trying to work out why Cairn would offer board membership to the government, the demands of 24x7 news meant the story was already on the wires. Within minutes, however, a senior company official launched into a firefighting mode, clarifying that Agarwal was asking for government membership on the management committee of blocks, not the Cairn India board.