I want my TV address too, says Sonia

I want my TV address too, says Sonia
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, MARCH 20: After George Fernandes and the Prime Minister, now Congress chief and Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi wants a slice of Doordarshan's air time. Today, Sonia asked A B Vajpayee to provide her party's representative a similar slot on the national channel to ``explain our views to the nation on the recent revelations made by Tehelka.com.''

The Prime Minister reportedly informed Sonia that he had forwarded her letter to Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sushma Swaraj. However, sources held that the Prasar Bharati was an autonomous organisation which the government did not interfere with. Fernandes' address was telecast for its ``exclusivity and newsworthiness.''

Though Sonia didn't name Fernandes in her letter, she reminded Vaypayee of his government's ``unprecedented step of first allowing a minister who has been dropped from the cabinet to address the nation on the national television network and then enabling two of your officers in the PMO to address a televised press conference under the auspices and sponsorship of the official Press Information Bureau.''

``Under the best traditions of a multi-party democracy, I am now asking you to allow time to the authorised representative of the principal opposition part on a slot of equivalent quality and range on Doordarshan,'' Sonia wrote.