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PM's cold shoulder upsets NRIs

George Iype in New Delhi

The prime minister's denial of an audience to NRI leaders travelling with US President Bill Clinton, has upset them deeply.

It is not just that their request was turned down. What riled these NRIs more, was the prime minister having a separate meeting with a part Clinton's entourage, comprising benefactors of the Overseas Friends of the BJP, the party's international outfit.

A large number of Indian Americans are accompanying Clinton - nearly 150 prominent people from various walks of life, most of them members of the National Federation of Indian American Associations.

NFIAA officials camping in Delhi said as per the initial understanding, they were to dine with A B Vajpayee at his Race Course residence on Monday night. The NFIAA has also brought along a token donation of US $ 10,000 to be presented to Vajpayee towards the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.

Since Clinton did not have any programmes in New Delhi on Monday, the Indian Americans waited till evening in the hope that they would be taken to Vajpayee and his council of ministers for an exclusive meeting.

But their request to interact with the PM was rejected at the last moment and most of the NRI community leaders were instead taken to a large farmhouse owned by a US-based businessman, Ramesh Kapoor near Delhi for a dinner.

NRI representatives allege that a group of businessmen who are benefactors and supporters of the Overseas Friends of the BJP, had a special audience with the prime minister on Monday night.

"This is the problem with India. We have been trying all these years to get Clinton to visit India. Now that we have come with him, the Indian government does not want to meet us. They are treating us like foreigners who are of no use to the motherland," an NFIAA official told rediff.com.

He alleged that activists and supporters of the Overseas Friends of the BJP, who are big businessmen in the US, "have been taken care of in Delhi, while we are being treated as outcasts."

The NRI businessmen who met the prime minister exclusively included Bhishma Agnihotri, chancellor of the Southern University Law Centre, Suhas Patil, founder and chairman of Cirrus Logic and Pavan Nigam, Chief Technology Officer of Healtheon/WebMD.

In fact, so volatile are tempers over this issue that on Monday evening, a section of the NFIAA and benefactors of the Overseas Friends of the BJP, had a verbal duel in Taj Palace Intercontinental hotel.

Atul Panchal, a New York-based doctor and president of the International Association for Advancement - a member of the NFIAA - told rediff.com that the Indian American delegation is "eagerly waiting for a meeting with the prime minister."

He said the NRI contingent will be travelling with President Clinton to Hyderabad and Bombay as well.

CLINTON VISITS INDIA : The complete coverage

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