Official stowaway

After family members, it’s now her officials who are beginning to take liberties-and President Pratibha Patil’s problems only seem to be multiplying. During her recent trip to Jammu and Kashmir, an IAF helicopter carrying her aides made an emergency landing. While there were no casualties, the incident brought to light the concealed fact that the wife of a top Rashtrapati Bhavan bureaucrat was in the entourage. Government officials cannot have their wives accompanying them on an official trip, that too with the President. What annoyed many is that the woman’s name was carefully omitted from all lists, including the IAF’s flight manifest. Had it not been for the emergency landing, the fact would never have surfaced. Red-faced mandarins at Raisina Hill are now busy trying to deflect queries.