Defence minister Manohar Parrikar 'seeks' Rs 10 royalty for a pic!

LUCKNOW: As the journalists jostled to take pictures of Manohar Parrikar, after he filed his nomination for Rajya Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh today, the new defence minister jokingly asked Rs 10 as royalty.

"Now if anyone takes the picture I will charge Rs 10 as royalty," he said in a lighter vein as the photo journalists almost stormed the podium in the conference hall.

On being asked by the journalists to speak in Hindi Parrikar said,"I know Hindi, but it is not very good. I will learn Hindi in three-four months as I myself don't like to mix English words."

When a journalist raised that no new Sainik School had been set up in Uttar Pradesh after formation of Uttarakhand the minister said,"Now I belong to this place, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister are from here. Whatever we can do from army point of view we will do it, you need not worry."