'Lobbying firm services used to seek media interviews for PM'

WASHINGTON: An eminent American lobbying company hired by the Indian embassy here, primarily on the issue of Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, was used among other things to seek media interviews for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and get Congressional resolutions passed in his support ahead of a US visit.

Open source documents reveal that the company's services were also used to fix a dinner appointment for the Indian ambassador with a luxury magazine and roundtable with new media outlets.

The documents show that at least since 2005, Barbour Griffith & Rogers (BGR), a Washington-based lobbying company, has been lobbying on behalf of the Indian government for an annual fee of about Rs 3.4 crore (USD 700,000).

Payment details and activities of BGR with regard to India have been posted by ProPublica and SunLight Foundation, which say they have obtained the information from disclosure forms of the lobbying firms submitted to US Justice Department under strict Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). So far they have posted information on foreign lobbying - all the countries and foreign firms -- for the years 2008 and 2009.

BGR declined to give its comment on it. "We do not comment on our client work. Please know BGR fully complies with all registration and disclosure requirements," its spokesman Loren Monroe told PTI.

The Indian embassy did not respond so far to the questions sent by PTI to it in this regard. However, sources in the embassy said the mission uses both direct contact and outreach consultants, as appropriate, to maximize outreach and impact.