The Times of India: Faced with strong protest from negotiators over what they called change in India's stance on climate talks, the government on Sunday scrambled to control the damage.
Environment minister Jairam Ramesh held a series of meetings with two negotiators who had threatened to pull out of Copenhagen talks as they feared that the baseline of India's stand was being changed in the name of flexibility.
The effort paid dividends with the negotiators -- Chandrasekhar Dasgupta and Prodipto Ghosh -- agreeing to join the talks in Copenhagen. But they also drew dark red lines by publicly confirming that they had differences and highlighting that they had got assurances from Ramesh.
While the episode left the government embarrassed, industry body FICCI, which normally does not take a stance against the regime of the day, shot off an anguished letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the country's changed position and a critical BJP said unilateral announcement of carbon intensity cuts had made all Indians including the negotiators unhappy.
The party also said the PM was going to Copenhagen under US pressure.
