Ancient Regime

And oh, he’s just back from Manali, after spending quality time with Vajpayee and his family far away from the madding crowd. If it is indication of his rapport with the boss, Basaria isn’t talking.

Instead, he focuses on his time at the PMO. ‘‘I consciously kept a low profile,’’ says Basaria, who served in Moscow and Berlin before Vajpayee picked him as the IFS officer who would be one of his two secretaries. The other, as per tradition, was an IAS officer, R P Singh (who, incidentally, is also tipped to join the World Bank).

‘‘My role was to both provide access as well as filter the inputs and files the Prime Minister must see. The end of the information pyramid should be narrow. The Prime Minister cannot be expected to see junk and piles of paper. That is where we come in.’’

Settling down with a nimbu-paani after a round of golf, Basaria says, ‘‘I felt part of several major events, and what is important is that I ended my stint feeling that I too had made a small contribution to the system.’’

And to all intents and purposes, his successors will have their chance too. ‘‘There’s a clear indication from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that civil servants will play an integral part in his PMO. In his very first interaction with the staff, Manmohan Singh made everyone in the old team feel very comfortable… And with the huge international role that prime ministers now play, having members of the foreign service in the PMO does help.’’

If Basaria sounds so familiar with the new prime minister’s working style, it’s because he was part of the outgoing regime who stuck around for a fortnight to ease Manmohan Singh into office. ‘‘On his first full day in office, I was there by his side, I put through the congratulatory calls from the US and Pakistani presidents,’’ he says.

Two weeks after the new disposition took charge, Basaria proceeded on leave. His place was taken by IFS officer Vikram Dooraiswamy, while R P Singh was succeeded by BVR Subramaniam, from the IAS.

Ritu Sarin

His master’s voice
WHILE many of the high-profile members of Vajpayee’s PMO have been rewarded with plum foreign postings and others like Brajesh Mishra and A S Dulat seem headed for retirement, the future of Ashok Tandon, the former PM’s trusted media adviser, remains a subject of speculation.

The fact that the ex-journo has been by Vajpayee’s side throughout his Manali vacation, though, gives an inkling of what lies ahead: Tandon’s association with Vajpayee will continue, either in a formal or informal capacity, very possibly the latter.

But the buzz is that apart from continuing to act as Vajpayee’s media manager from his new Krishna Menon Marg residence, Tandon will land another assignment. Party sources say one option is a senior place on the board of the Bhopal-based Makhanlal Chaturvedi Journalism Institute. Since Tandon wants to stay put in Delhi, he could be stationed in the regional centre of the Institute in NOIDA.

Tandon got independent charge of media management in Vajpayee’s PMO after H K Dua, with whom he shared the portfolio, was picked to head India’s mission in Copenhagen. While missing the stature of several veterans who held the post before him, the low-profile but highly accessible press relations officer won kudos for his firm, unobtrusive handling of the media in general and the electronic media in particular.

Tandon bolstered the image of being a fierce Vajpayee loyalist during the low points of the regime. In June 2002, for instance, he wrote a scathing rebuttal to Time magazine’s highly critical piece on Vajpayee’s failing health. ‘‘His bladders and liver are perfectly normal,’’ was one delectable quote from Tandon’s letter.

Two years earlier, while updating the media on Vajpayee’s knee surgery, Tandon had made the point that opting for a Mumbai hospital had saved precious foreign exchange — in contrast to former PM V P Singh, who forced the exchequer to spend Rs 8 crore on his treatment abroad.

Vajpayee’s first post-poll reflective interview in The Indian Express in New Delhi and his lengthy analysis of the BJP’s shock defeat on Zee TV are indication that he will not be disappearing into the wilderness just yet.

At least not as long as Tandon remains to guide him through the media maze.

Ritu Sarin

Babu turns banker
FOR Ashok Saikia, the seniormost outgoing bureaucrat of Vajpayee’s PMO, the NDA’s defeat has made him spend more time in South Block this month than he would have otherwise. In December, Saikia was appointed executive director of the Asian Development Bank, and had the Vajpayee government returned, he would have been on leave by now.

Instead, the portly bureaucrat has moved into a smaller office and is easing in the new powers behind the throne at the PMO in between clearing out his own papers. The departure for Manila has been scheduled for July 26.

‘‘There was never any rethink on my new assignment. The new prime minister knew I was moving on. There was no controversy as was made out in the press,’’ Saikia clarifies.

ADB, then, was an experience waiting to happen. In the past six years in the PMO, he has handled key departments like rural development and agriculture, and coordinated functions of the Law ministry and the department of personnel. Earlier, he served as a UNDP consultant in Vietnam for two years, besides being joint secretary, agriculture, secretary to the Assam governor and secretary of the Atomic Energy Commission.

But, understandably, it is his days in the PMO that occupy the softest spot in his heart. His briefcase contains Vajpayee’s personal notes and jottings, and Saikia doesn’t quite know what to do with them. He also carries with him fond memories of Brajesh Mishra who, he says, as principal secretary, set the tone for the functioning of Vajpayee’s PMO.

‘‘It was a disparate team, but we all held our own. Brajeshji himself was very decisive — in fact, our meetings in the PMO would usually wind up before the tea could be served! And contrary to what many people think, he kept the PM informed about every small decision we took,’’ says Saikia.

At ADB, too, he will be one of a core team of 12 directors, with personal charge of Indian, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Laos and Tajikistan. ‘‘India has a 6 per cent stake in the ADB and I will be promoting its interests as a shareholder,’’ he says. ‘‘The new job will not be a staff job like the one in the PMO but I am looking forward to it. I’ll be based in a part of the world I’m familiar with.’’

After three years with ADB, Saikia will still have another year to go before official retirement. But early retirement looks like a distinct possibility.

He would have earned it.

Ritu Sarin

Peaks in the Valley
AFFABILITY and approachability are probably the last qualities to be associated with John Le Carre’s undercover agents. But they are precisely what make Avtar Singh Dulat a successful intelligence officer.

After 39 years of living dangerously, though, Dulat has had enough. Almost. Long walks and golf top his most-wanted list, followed closely by time with family and grandkids. Currently on holiday in Shimla, Dulat says he is savouring the pleasures of simply ‘‘chilling’’.

It’s not a pleasure one can grudge. As OSD in charge of Jammu & Kashmir in Vajpayee’s PMO, Dulat was the key mediator between the government and the separatists, and also an interlocutor with militant outfits. If any one person can be credited with bringing the Hurriyat Conference to the negotiating table, it is Dulat.

The three-and-half years as the officer on special duty were preceded by 30 years in the Intelligence Bureau — Dulat spent little time in formal policing — handling sensitive assignments, including a long stint in the J&K. Dulat also served as chief of the country’s external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). The appointment ruffled many feathers, since it is traditionally reserved for an RAW Administrative Service officer.

It was Dulat’s first-hand familiarity with J&K that prompted Vajpayee to entrust him with the task of convincing separatists to agree to a dialogue. Dulat made numerous quiet visits to the Valley, talking to various groups — separatists and intellectuals — and providing feedback to the government.

His inputs decided several government initiatives for peace in the state, paved the way for Vajpayee’s historic visit last year, and ensured there was no major resistance to the assembly elections. In fact, it was Dulat who managed to convince Hurriyat chairman Maulana Abbas Ansari to stay with the talks when he threatened to pull out on the issue of human rights violations.

Characteristically, though, Dulat chooses to downplay these achievements. The J&K assignment is dismissed in inexact words: ‘‘It was about the broad picture and floating ideas.’’ Only Vajpayee comes in for precise praise: ‘‘He was a great boss.’’

And he is only slightly more forthcoming about his future plans. ‘‘I haven’t started missing work yet. Let’s see, if such a stage comes after a few months, I’ll think of something.’’

No doubts on that score.

Bhavna Vij-Aurora

Karma chameleon
‘EASY-GOING’ sums up Sudheendra Kulkarni’s entire persona. It also perhaps explains his slide from the Left to the Right, and from being an Advani acolyte to Vajpayee’s PMO — and now, to being BJP president Venkaiah Naidu’s right-hand man. The new role is yet undefined, but he is expected to provide intellectual inputs to Naidu for the formulation and articulation of the party’s policies.

BJP presidents don’t commonly have high-profile secretaries. The last time there was a comparable figure was during Advani’s time. However, K N Govindacharya discharged this role only informally and for a very short time, right after he joined the BJP.

Though many draw parallels with the Congress’s Ahmed Patel, Kulkarni prefers to downplay his presence at the BJP headquarters. He told The Sunday Express: ‘‘Please don’t mind, I am not supposed to speak.’’

He is quite right, for, his forte is writing. Most of the speeches Vajpayee read out were written by him. Even his new year-eve ‘Musings’, which triggered and settled many a political storm, were ghostwritten by Kulkarni.

These are skills he sharpened as a journalist. An IIT graduate, Kulkarni subsequently worked for The Science Age, Sunday Observer and the rabid anti-BJP Blitz. It was his column, ‘The Last Page’, in the Blitz, which brought his writing skills and Marxist leanings to the fore.

In the early-’90s, though, Kulkarni switched loyalties to the BJP, joining Advani’s rathyatra in Maharashtra, providing media inputs and writing newspaper articles to further the party’s cause. The erstwhile Leftie went on to become a member of the party’s national council and co-write the party manifesto and agenda for governance (1998) as well as the NDA’s joint manifesto.

Vajpayee picked him up for the job of director (communications and research) in the PMO. He doubled as his speech-writer and a conduit between his office and the party. While in the PMO, he was a member of the group on telecom, which formulated the new telecom policy in 1999.

Pradeep Kaushal

The margins beckon
ONE of his last decisions as Cabinet Secretary has ensured Kamal Pande a place in the administrators’ hall of fame. One day after the 2004 Lok Sabha elections were declared, on May 14, additional secretary in the PMO Ashok Saikia reportedly took a file to Pande. It had Prime Minister Vajpayee’s signature, and authorised some plum postings for key PMO officials.

But Pande wouldn’t sign. Instead, he noted in the file: ‘‘Propriety demands that the view of the new government should be obtained on these proposals.’’

Propriety, rules, legitimacy… these words carry a great deal of weight for Pande. A nephew of controversial former HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi, he is the third cabinet secretary in the family: B D Pandey is married to his sister; V C Pandey, current governor of Arunachal Pradesh, is his wife’s brother.

Interestingly, V C Pandey was removed as cabinet secretary when the V P Singh government was voted out, and appointed secretary in the Inter-State Council Secretariat. That is the post Pande holds till October 31, when his term ends.

The fact that Pande did not find a place in the new dispensation surprised more than a few. Pande has one of the most enviable reputations in the power echelons: no-nonsense, non-political, upright and immune to political pressure.

Formerly home secretary under L K Advani, the articulate, low-profile bureaucrat wielded enormous power as cabinet secretary. Senior IAS officers looked to him for transfers and postings of their choice; the RAW chief reported to him, as did the CBI director. He had access to Cabinet secrets — sometimes unknown even to ministers — and all major files.

From the topmost bureaucratic post in the country to heading the near-defunct Inter-State Council Secretariat… the drop is too sheer to miss. The ISC Secretariat is supposed to be an interactive ‘‘advisory forum’’ handling disputes between states, and also between states and the Centre. But with most complaints handled at the level of PM or CMs, the Secretariat currently has little role to play.

With Pande at the helm, his colleagues hope some of his dynamism will rub off onto the Secretariat.

Bhavna Vij-Aurora

Still of the moment
TILL a few days ago, Brajesh Mishra was the second most powerful man in India. Principal Secretary, National Security Adviser, Friend & Confidante of the erstwhile PM. But as the confoundingly revolutionary mood of Bharat took its revenge upon New Delhi, Mishra quietly asked his officers in the PMO to thumb and nail every top secret paper into its relevant file. The annals of history were being appropriated by a new order. Regret would come later.

And so Brajesh Mishra, back to being an ordinary citizen, asked for a month to shift out of his official residence on Safdarjung Lane and into his own house. ‘‘That’s all I’m doing,’’ he told The Sunday Express, ‘‘packing. It takes a lot of time. You know the feeling.’’

Mishra’s graceful departure has evoked both loyalty and continuity in the system. The man who inherited part of his mantle, new National Security Adviser J N Dixit, called upon Mishra for both blessings and best wishes. India’s putative ambassador to the US, Ronen Sen, met him over lunch for a background briefing on dealing with New Delhi’s most important and perhaps the most difficult of external relationships. Such was — is — the measure of the man.

Though the offers have been coming, Mishra’s friends say that he is not interested in hitting the seminar circuit yet. So come rain or shine, he still wends his way to Vajpayee’s house at 9 am, where he stays on till lunch. It’s an old habit, stemming from the good ol’ days when both out-of-power men shared a passion for foreign affairs. Back home, it’s time for a quiet lunch or meeting callers. The evenings are given to either another chat with Vajpayee or winding up the establishment.

With his pathbreaking initiatives on Pakistan and China, he brought a respectability to the BJP the Congress in the opposition could only gape at. What ‘‘they’’ had always dreamt of doing — making peace on the border issue with Beijing, resolving the Kashmir issue — Brajesh had the vision to initiate. Vajpayee, with his human touch, and he, seemed made for each other. They ran the place, no doubt about that. And mostly, it was Brajesh who didn’t suffer fools.

Jyoti Malhotra