A leader’s success depends on the company he or she keeps. Or avoids. The ominous disconnect between 7 Race Course Road (the PM’s official residence) and South Block (the PM’s office) was revealed last week during l’affaire Bangladesh. Within 12 hours of its Web release, the PMO was forced to withdraw some frank statements Manmohan Singh had made to Indian editors on our troubled relationship with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The journalists realised the sensitivity of his remarks and kept them out of their reports.
