A top Union minister actually granted an interview to a TV channel, defending the United Progressive Alliance's "convicted Neta" ordinance. He spoke at length on how the ordinance was necessary. The interview was recorded earlier and when Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi tore into his own government's ordinance, the TV channel intelligently played the minister's defence of it to show how much at odds with the party, its "
netas" were. The minister first telephoned the interviewer, then one of the owners of the channel to browbeat them into withdrawing the interview. The journalists did not comply.
