In letter and spirit

On Friday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member Udit Raj lamented how the "influence" of members of Parliament (MP) was decreasing. Raj, a former Indian Revenue Service officer, said he had written about 2,000 letters to government departments on various issues but hadn't received any acknowledgement for most of them. Raj, who represents the North-West Delhi constituency, said he was transferred as a senior income-tax officer in 1998 on the basis of a "forged" letter written in the name of an MP, but now even clerks were not affected by genuine letters from members. He blamed bureaucrats for it, saying they ignored letters from MPs. His comments received wide support from MPs of all political parties.