P.M. Bhargava

NEW DELHI: Differences within the National Knowledge Commission could take a political turn, with the Communist Party of India planning to write to the Prime Minister about chairman Sam Pitroda's "dictatorial style of functioning."

The CPI's proposed intervention in the matter comes in the wake of a meeting between commission vice-chairman P.N. Bhargava and party general secretary A.B. Bardhan here on Saturday.

At the meeting, Mr. Bhargava listed a series of instances to demonstrate the manner in which Mr. Pitroda was bulldozing the commission into accepting his line.

While Mr. Bhargava has had reservations about Mr. Pitroda's style of functioning for some time now, the main point of difference between the two emerged over the commission's note on higher education, sent to the Prime Minister in December last.

According to Mr. Bhargava, he was not consulted before the note was finalised and Mr. Pitroda ignored his repeated requests for more discussion.

Dissociating himself from the note, Mr. Bhargava has since sent a separate note to the Prime Minister and the Human Resource Development Minister.

He also boycotted the function organised at the Prime Minister's residence on January 12 for the release of the NKC's first annual report, as members were not involved in its preparation.

"The annual report was just a series of letters and reports that had already been sent to the Prime Minister over the past year," Mr. Bhargava told The Hindu.

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