PM says no to presidentship of IGNCA

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has turned down an offer to become the president of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has turned down an offer to become the president of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA). The post has been lying vacant since the resignation of Dr Kapila Vatsayan last month.

Culture Minister Ambika Soni had urged Singh to take over the post at the prominent institution, which has lately been ridden by controversies.

“But the Prime Minister felt that because of his many other duties he would not be able to do justice to the job. Besides, he also wanted someone non-political to head a cultural organisation like the IGNCA,” Soni told The Indian Express.

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In offering the post to Singh, Soni, however, overlooked one important technical aspect. The IGNCA president’s post is an office of profit and Singh could not have taken it without resigning as the Prime Minister.

Incidentally, Vatsayan too had to resign from the Rajya Sabha in 2004 when she became president of the IGNCA. She quit as IGNCA head last month citing health reasons and has since again been nominated to the Rajya Sabha. However, she continues to be one of the trustees of IGNCA.

Asked whether Singh wouldn’t have run foul of the office-of-profit technicality had he taken up the post, Soni said: “Now that he has already expressed his inability to take this up, this question is no longer relevant.”

The Culture Minister added that they were looking for some other suitable candidate for the post. “A few names have been suggested. Consultations are on and we would very soon have a full-time president of IGNCA,” she said.