Perfect symphony

Senior members of the Congress allege that there is little coordination among members of the National Democratic Alliance government while dealing with the media. They recall the perfect symphony between then external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, now President of India, and the minister of state for information and broadcasting (I&B), Anand Sharma, while providing information to journalists in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.

Party members say that according to an arrangement devised by Mukherjee, either he or Sharma would speak on the issue on a given day to ensure there was uniformity in the government's stand. As then I&B minister Priyaranjan Das Munshi was seriously ill, Sharma, as the junior minister, had the additional responsibility to brief journalists.