The National Security Adviser M K Narayanan briefed Samajwadi Party leaders Amar Singh and Ram Gopal Yadav on the nuclear deal at 11 Pandit Pant Marg, which is an Intelligence Bureau safe house in Delhi. The choice of venue has aroused some comment since this is where interrogation of terrorists and suspects normally takes place. In contrast, Narayanan had met Advani at his residence to explain the finer points of the deal. The reason given for the hole and corner approach this time is that Narayanan wanted to avoid the media. The SP leaders are believed to have been shown the final draft of the pact. Incidentally, Mulayam Singh Yadav stayed away from the discussions because of communication problem, Narayanan cannot understand his Hindi and he the NSA’s English.The emissariesWhile Amar Singh was abroad, UP Governor T V Rajeshwar and Laloo Prasad Yadav had done the groundwork for stitching up a deal between the SP and the Congress. There was even a meeting between Mulayam’s son Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi. Incidentally, many in the Congress feel Sonia Gandhi’s insistence on going ahead with the nuclear deal, despite the private reservations of most Congress MPs, is not just because of the PM, but also due to Rahul’s faith in the pact.Calculated riskSonia Gandhi got her math wrong in 1999 when she staked a claim to form the Government stating at the Rashtrapati Bhavan that she had the support of 272 MPs and “more are coming”. The question is whether the Congress has got its arithmetic right this time. The party claims that it can secure a majority in Parliament without the Left’s 59 MPs. It is counting on Mulayam’s 39 MPs, the Shiv Sena’s 12, and sundry small parties.Actually, the Government wants to avoid the uncertainties of a floor test. Besides it does not want to be accused later of having joined hands and sought support from both Hindu and Muslim communalists. The Government simply wants to stave of the inevitable till September. It hopes that an obliging President Pratibha Patil would, if necessary, accept written letters of support from political parties and delay an actual floor test in the Lok Sabha. The target is for the Government in September to call for an early poll, which it hopes would mean a general election around February, provided the Election Commission agrees to a six-month gap between the dissolution of Parliament and the polls. When to pull rugThe Congress has put the Left in a dilemma. It cannot decide just when to pull the rug. Karat’s earlier stance was that the right moment would be when the Congress goes to the IAEA with the final draft. But in these days of email exchanges, it is not necessary for the official negotiating team to be physically present and hand over a draft to the IAEA. It is probably only after the meeting of the IAEA board of governors in September that the final draft will be circulated and made public.Angry CPI(M) members calling for immediate withdrawal of support, point to the decimation of the CPI that fashioned itself as the B team of the Congress and supported the Emergency. The party was practically wiped out in most of its traditional strongholds.Extending problemDespite Lt General S K Sinha’s controversial past — from embarrassing the Assam Government by exposing the extent of Bangladeshi infiltration to importing ice to artificially shore up the sacred shivling in Amarnath — Shivraj Patil, M K Narayanan and Ghulam Nabi Azad had a soft corner for him. Which was why the NDA appointee was allowed to continue in service even after his term had ended on June 3 and his successor appointed. The Congress’s weak explanation is: how can you get rid of a governor who refuses to leave? Azad was close to the Governor because of Sinha’s known antipathy towards the PDP. The Home Minister and NSA approved of his tough line towards militancy.Excluding nativesThe new Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra is contemplating recruiting some Muslim employees for the state Raj Bhavan. Except for the gardener there have been almost no members of the minority community working at the Governor’s residence for the last two decades.
