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Prime Minister reprimands Ramesh New Delhi, May 10 Known for his irreverence, Jairam Ramesh breached protocol when he described the home ministry as being “alarmist” and “overly defensive” about the entry of Chinese companies in India while speaking to media persons in Beijing over the week-end. The minister’s remarks met with instant disapproval. Home minister P.Chidambaram is learnt to have complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who then telephoned Ramesh and told him that it was "advisable for Cabinet colleagues not to make comments on the functioning of other ministries, especially with regard to relationship with important neighbours like China." Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said the PM also told the environment minister that there was "no confusion" in the government about China, with which it wants to have "constructive engagement". Speaking to reporters at an international conference on climate change in Beijing, Ramesh had stated that the "overly defensive and alarmist" approach in the security establishments in India would not help in sustaining the Copenhagen spirit. The minister also said that India should be much more relaxed in its approach to Chinese investments into the country and get rid of "needless" restrictions. “We are imagining demons where there are none," he added. Ramesh made a case for doing business with major Chinese telecom firm Huawei, which has been shot down by the home ministry for security reasons. While the BJP has demanded Ramesh’s resignation, the Congress is embarrassed at the manner in which he has spoken against his own the government. "It is not right to air such differences in public. Congress disapproves of such statements made on foreign soil," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said here today. Ramesh is due for a renomination to the Rajya Sabha next month but the latest incident has given fresh ammunition to his detractors in the government and the party to demand that he should be kept out. Ramesh, like former minister Shashi Tharoor, has made it a habit of speaking out of turn and publicly criticising his ministerial colleagues but his previous transgressions have often been overlooked. His differences with the PM’s special envoy on climate change Shyam Saran were well known. He has also had a run-in with Union ministers Kamal Nath, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Sharad Pawar for blocking key development projects.Yet, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress president have been quite indulgent towards him even after he had once declared that the Congress would not come to power in 50 years. Ramesh has been the party’s key election strategist and the Congress president’s speech writer. He was also given independent charge of the high-profile environment ministry when the UPA came back to power last year. This time, however, Ramesh, appears to have crossed the red line. Not only did he criticise his own government on foreign soil, he appears to have overlooked the basic principle of “collective responsibility” of the council of ministers. Worse, he spoke on matters which concern the very country he was visiting.
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