Though not directly related to the latest Tejpal incident, I thought the enclosed article relating to the first Think festival would be of interest to the members on this list.
U. G. Barad A crusader turns collector Author: Devika Sequeira Publication: Deccan Herald Date: November 12, 2011 URL: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/204473/a-crusader-turns-collector.html After several preliminaries and high-power callssome of them from Sonia Gandhis political adviser Ahmed Patel ''Tehelka'' publisher and chief operating officer Neena Tejpal met Chief Minister Digambar Kamat in Goa weeks ahead of ''Think 2011'', the magazines festival of ideas that was held here from November 4 to 6. She came with a few other people to meet me and asked us to associate with the event. Since prominent people, including central ministers were coming, we agreed to help them, Kamat told Deccan Herald on Saturday. He denied there had been pressure from Delhi for him to support the festival, which has been shadowed by a controversy, or that a deal had been struck for Tehelka to hold off an expose on illegal mining in Goa. No, no, thats not true at all, he said. Also present at the meeting with the Tehelka representatives were Chief Secretary Sanjay Srivastava, former tourism secretary D C Sahoo, Finance Secretary S Kumaraswamy, Director (tourism) Swapnil Naik and others. Neena Tejpal, sister of Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal, was business-like and downright arrogant with the Goa chief minister, leaving his aides quite stunned. If Tarun was here, he would have asked for Rs 1.5 crore. How much are you willing to give? she asked Kamat quite bluntly, a government source told Deccan Herald. The source expressed shock at Neenas tone and tenor, considering she was talking to the chief minister of a state. An embarrassed Kamat asked his aides to see which departments could be tapped for funding the fest and the chief secretary finally came up with a figure of Rs 50 lakh for the magazines event. Tehelka, which prides itself for its investigative and public interest journalism, has been accused by theatre personality Hartman De Souza of burying a report on mining in Goa by its former correspondent Raman Kirpal because of the negotiations with the Goa government on Thinkfest. Tejpal has strongly denied the charges. But a government aide said after the meeting with Neena Tejpal there was a strong buzz in the secretariat that Kamat was keen to oblige the Tehelka people because they have some explosive material on him.
