Siddhartha refused trappings of power

When word got around in the MEA that Siddhartha and Malavika were going to New York and would be with Krishna, protocol officers went to Delhi airport to see off the couple.

V G Siddhartha was one VIP with high political connections who abjured India’s notorious VIP culture. Once he was visiting New York along with his wife Malavika on holiday. Their visit coincided with the presence in Manhattan of Malavika’s father, S M Krishna, who was then India’s External Affairs Minister.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had decided that year not to attend the United Nations General Assembly owing to preoccupations at home. So automatically Krishna became the head of the Indian delegation to the General Assembly, which gave him the notional status of head of state or government under UN protocol.

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