"Poor Gentleman" Quattrochi?

PM’s concert in ‘Q’ major

As a grand finale to its subservient five years in office and as a tribute to its benefactor and mentor, the Manmohan Orchestra is now playing ‘Concerto Quattrocchi’ at the Delhi Opera. Members of this orchestra — who constitute the biggest ensemble of Italy-trained political musicians — are playing their hearts out to impress the presiding deity at 10, Janpath. Beginning with the conductor, everyone is hoping for renewal of their contracts after May 16, smug in the belief that the people of India will reward them for their unstinted sycophancy.The Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, has surely established himself as a conductor par excellence in the eyes of his benefactor by defending the withdrawal of the ‘Red Corner Notice’ against Ottavio Quattrocchi. He has declared that the Quattrocchi case is an “embarrassment” for the Government because the world sees this Italian fugitive and friend of Mr Sonia Gandhi as someone who is being “harassed” by us.