Desi colas at 'import lobby'

Gurudas Dasgupta was livid at being called the "import lobby" by Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily. The two have been at loggerheads because the veteran communist is against the increase in gas prices that the government has proposed. At a press conference that he had called at the All India Trade Union Congress office, he thundered , "I am not part of any lobby. It is fantastic nonsense." True to swadeshi ideals, even the soft drinks served at the conference did not have any foreign connection. Instead, small bottles of Mycola and its lemonade cousin, made on the outskirts of Delhi, were served. Journalists were seen straining their eyes to read the labels.