On April 13, the Congress’ resident intellectual and Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh wrote to the Prime Minister, voicing opposition on keeping agricultural goods in the FTA with ASEAN. The PMO promptly forwarded the letter to the Commerce Ministry for an explanation. It was decided Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath would brief the Prime Minister on the objections of his junior colleague rather than leave it to a babu to give an explanation. The file is since then lying in Nath’s office. The PMO is no longer interested.
