Life's little joys

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not have the time, so the Cuban dictator's lapdog did not get to meet with the PM.

PM too busy for Cuban, Left red

New Delhi, June 25: The Left parties are apparently miffed that Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque was not granted an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which prompted him to cancel his Delhi trip earlier this month.

Roque was coming to invite Singh on Cuban President Fidel Castro’s behalf to attend the next summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, to be held in Havana in mid-September.

Although there was no official word from the Left, it hinted that Roque could not get the appointment as a close aide of the Prime Minister did not want to annoy the US.

The government has put up its own argument — Singh might be holding charge of external affairs but he cannot meet every foreign minister who comes to Delhi.

Roque was asked to hand over the invite to junior for- eign minister Anand Sharma, who handles Latin America, but he cancelled his trip at the last minute and sent it through the embassy.