Time frame

Last week8217;s meeting of the UPA-Left mechanism on the Indo-US nuclear deal caught CPI leader A B Bardhan on the wrong foot. Earlier in the day, he had, in response to a question on how long the Government was safe, quipped: 8220;Definitely till 5 pm the time of the meeting.8221; So, the likes of Lalu Prasad Yadav and others from the Congress-UPA camp poked him through the meeting that evening, asking him every 15 minutes whether the government was safe. 8220;It8217;s 5:30 Mr Bardhan, is the Government safe?8221; one would ask. Sometime later, another member would add, 8220;It8217;s now 6 pm, Bardhan saab.8221; Red-faced the communist leader kept blaming the media in a feeble defence even as his irritated face revealed it all, recalls a committee member.