Another member quits climate team

Dasgupta declined to comment on his decision but other sources in the government confirmed the development. However,former Environment Secretary Prodipto Ghosh,another negotiator,who had openly expressed his disagreement with Ramesh’s line on climate change and was expected to take a similar decision as Dasgupta,has decided to continue for the moment. “There is no reason for me to resign and I have not been asked by anyone to quit. So as of now I am very much part of the team,” Ghosh told The Sunday Express.

Dasgupta and Ghosh had delayed their departure to Copenhagen for the climate change summit last December owing to their differences with the changes being brought about in the official line. They had gone only after Ramesh assured in writing that India would not deviate from its long-standing positions on climate change.

But it has not been so and Ramesh himself admitted in Parliament that he had gone beyond the assurance he had given to the two Houses before the start of the Copenhagen meeting. The position of Dasgupta,a veteran of climate negotiations,was becoming more and more untenable after that.

Unlike Saran,these two retired bureaucrats do not hold any official position and therefore do not necessarily have to resign. A new negotiating team is likely to be constituted before the next round of meetings begin,hopefully by April this year. India has asked for at least six rounds of meetings before the next climate change summit in Mexico in December.

Explain why Saran left,BJP tells Govt

NEW DELHI

THE exit of Shyam Saran,the Prime Minister’s special envoy on climate change,assumed political colour on Saturday with the BJP asking the government to explain the circumstances that led to his sudden resignation. Seeking to exploit the apparent rift in the PMO,the party also linked the development with the appointment of Shivshankar Menon as the NSA.

Taking potshots at the government,BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad wondered whether the UPA favours only those who brought “shame” at Sharm-el-Sheikh while an honest and upright person like Saran who had the country’s interests in mind had to leave like this. He pointed out that Saran’s differences with Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on India’s position on climate change was not a secret.

Prasad asked the Prime Minister’s Office to let the country know what forced Saran to quit and explain the appointment of Menon as NSA. “Does this government only promote those advisers who brought shame at Sharm-el-Sheikh and make India meekly surrender as far as foreign policy is concerned?” he asked.

“It is a fact that he (Saran) was opposed to weakening of India’s position on climate change as far as emission cuts are concerned,” he said,pointing out that the differences had come out in the open at the Copenhagen summit. “We need to recall that Sudipto Dasgupta and other interlocutors also had a different view,” he said.

“The BJP views the development very seriously. The highly detrimental initiatives taken on Kashmir in the fight against terrorism and the meek submission vis-a-vis Pakistan are indeed very disturbing,” he said.

ENS