He made his debut today as the new official spokesman and briefed the media after the Cabinet meeting, taking over a job traditionally assigned to the Principal Information Officer.

But memories of his foot-in-the-mouth trouble in his previous role obviously still haunt the Government. ``The Prime Minister has told me not to answer political questions, only questions related to Government decisions,'' Mahajan admitted at the outset.

With Vajpayee's warning ringing in his ears, he was very careful today. He came with a prepared text and stuck to it. No proverbial blunders today. Last time, he fell from grace after his penchant for folksy sayings almost derailed the already strained relationship between China and India. He had dismissed Chinese criticism of the Pokhrantests with, ``Ulta chor kotwal ko danten (the thief is scolding the police for his crime).''

The decision to field Mahajan as the Government's spokesman was taken at last evening's informal Cabinet meeting. Mahajan said that the Government wanted to make things easier for the media by streamlining the dissemination of information about Government decisions into a single window format.

But there is more to this move than meets the eye. It indicates a feeling in the Government that the existing system, that is the Press Information Bureau, does not meet the requirements of a ruling coalition badly in need of an image makeover.

After its disastrous performance in November's Assembly elections, the BJP sought to make the PIB and the then PIO scapegoats for its defeat. Since then, Prime Ministerial aides have been scratching their heads for an alternative, so that they do not have to depend on a setup which BJP circles are convinced was created to serve only Congress Governments.

The choice ofMahajan was natural. He has the Prime Minister's ear and with Vajpayee in his new assertive mode, no one dares argue if they have reservations.

The decision has given Mahajan a chance to redeem himself. After losing the Lok Sabha elections and being sidelined in the BJP organisation, he is back in the limelight as the public face of the Vajpayee Government. But the Prime Minister's warning is a signal that he is on probation.