By Arun Kumar
Washington, July 17 (IANS) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have broken her elbow but she hasn’t been elbowed out. That’s the signal she gave as she headed to India for her first visit as America’s chief diplomat.

With the cast on her elbow finally off, Clinton Thursday took a swipe at media reports that she is being sidelined by her one time rival President Barack Obama’s White House in shaping US foreign policy.

“I broke my elbow, not my larynx,” Clinton quipped at a question-and-answer session at the State Department insisting she is consistently involved both in shaping and implementing policy.

She broke her elbow last month, requiring several weeks in a cast as well as hours of physical therapy, and forcing her to cancel two international trips and keeping her out of the limelight for a month.

“I have been consistantly involved in the shaping and implementation of our foreign policy and I am off to India and Thailand tonight,” Clinton said with a straight face. When she returns from the week-long trip she will have a full slate of meetings and other travel, she added.

After returning to the public eye Wednesday with a widely publicised speech, Clinton said she did not pay much attention to the rumours and that her relationships with the White House and Obama himself are fine.

“I am just going to do the work and make a contribution,” she said. “I feel very honoured and positive about my working relationship with the White House and my personal relationship with President Obama.”