IFS tightens grip on Krishna

Foreign ministry mandarins have begun to exercise a tight grip over new minister S M Krishna,whose every meeting is screened to the last detail. The IFS personal staff have even got the better of Krishnas own longstanding team,driving in them the fear that one wrong utterance could spell doom for the minister. So much so that a group of senior editors from seven important countries of the Middle-East,invited by the MEA,did not get any political audience during their week-long stay. With Shashi Tharoor away,Krishnas office denied a request for a meeting,saying the area is under the purview of the MoS. With PM Manmohan Singh keen on visiting Saudi Arabia to ensure that diplomacy with the Arab world is not clouded by misperceptions about India because of its growing ties with the US and Israel,it was left to Vice-President Hamid Ansari to bat for South Block. Sources say he,too,was upset by the fact that no Minister or Secretary of the MEA had found time to brief the senior editors on Indias Middle-East policy. The grapevine has it that even Krishna is beginning to feel uncomfortable by all the tutoring his IFS staff is indulging in,getting him to only speak and communicate through prepared texts which clearly cramps his own style.