Need-to-know in the UPA

The chief trouble shooter for all seasons – Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee – likes to keep things under wraps as far as possible. So much so, according to a top representative of a think tank, that till Sunday night even Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma was unaware of what Mukherjee plans to say in the House on Wednesday on the subject of foreign direct investment in retail. It's a different matter that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee let the cat out of the bag on Saturday, purporting to pre-empt Mukherjee.