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.
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