Shilpa comment earns diplomat return ticket

SHILPA SHETTY emerged a winner from the British television reality show Celebrity Big Brother. A senior diplomat in the Indian High Commission in London, Kuldeep Bharadwaj, in contrast, has come out a loser for his comments on the Shetty affair. He has been recalled.

SHILPA SHETTY emerged a winner from the British television reality show Celebrity Big Brother. A senior diplomat in the Indian High Commission in London, Kuldeep Bharadwaj, in contrast, has come out a loser for his comments on the Shetty affair. He has been recalled.

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Bharadwaj, the high commission's spokesman, paid for a remark he allegedly made about Anand Sharma, the minister of state in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

"What can I do if Anand Sharma wants to keep an eye on Shilpa Shetty," he reportedly said about a fortnight ago, at an official briefing on the Indian government's reaction to the alleged racist attacks on Shetty.

Bhardwaj was not available when the Hindustan Times called him in London on Thursday because "he is on leave". High Commissioner Kamlesh Sharma too was unavailable for comment, his office said.

MEA spokesman Navtej Sarna said, "We do not comment on administrative affairs." On January 17, during an interaction with the media, Sharma was asked to respond to queries about Shetty.