Home truths

The last-minute shuffle of his portfolio from Home to Defence was a double whammy for Pranab Mukherjee, who was already finding it hard to a...

The last-minute shuffle of his portfolio from Home to Defence was a double whammy for Pranab Mukherjee, who was already finding it hard to accept Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister. Mukherjee considers himself the seniormost leader in the party, having been a minister even under Indira Gandhi. Singh, who has worked under Mukherjee as RBI governor, always addresses him deferentially as ‘‘Sir’’. A member of Mukherjee’s staff remarked crossly to a journalist that in the past Singh had often sat in the anteroom waiting for an audience with Mukherjee.

Since the Home Minister is generally considered the No 2 portfolio in the Government, there were several claimants for the post, including Laloo Prasad Yadav, who incidentally also tried for Defence. Denying the Home portfolio to Mukherjee was perhaps Sonia’s subtle signal to senior Congressmen that there is no No 2 in this Cabinet. (Mukherjee’s appointment as leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha is a temporary arrangement till Singh is elected to the Lok Sabha).

Another disappointed stalwart is Arjun Singh, who feels that he didn’t wage a battle against Narasimha Rao on Soniaji’s behalf only to have Singh installed as PM.

Mukherjee’s portfolio shift also reflects Sonia’s aversion to Amar Singh. The SP leader’s claim of friendship with any Congressman puts the individual at a distinct disadvantage. Perhaps this is also the reason Shankersinh Vaghela lost the Petroleum portfolio he was tipped to get.

So near to power

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Congress party general secretary Ambika Soni made a virtue of necessity proclaiming that she was following in Soniaji’s footsteps and renouncing a ministry. Actually Soni was initially keen to take up a position in the PMO, but she could only have gone as an MoS and not with full Cabinet rank. And to be just one of the many Cabinet ministers would have been a step down for someone who considers herself the de facto number two in the organisation.

A key adviser to Sonia in the Cabinet-formation exercise, who prefers not to proclaim his proximity, was political secretary Ahmed Patel. In the negotiations with the allies over portfolios, Sonia frequently sought the advice of V P Singh. In politics no one is a permanent enemy, not even Singh who once led the attack on the Bofors issue.

No speaker, but speeches

The Congress parliamentary party meeting in Central Hall of Parliament where speakers tried to outdo each other in eulogising Sonia Gandhi and begging her to be prime minister was relayed live for three hours not just on Doordarshan News but on the DD national channel as well. DD cancelled all its scheduled programmes and commercials to cover the proceedings. The-on-the-spot decision to telecast live was made at the initiative of two correspondents and without the sanction of the organisation’s top brass since DD’s television cameras are placed permanently in Parliament. With the change in dispensation in the offing, DD officials obviously decided it was prudent to dispense with the formalities.

A more serious lapse is that no television coverage in Parliament is possible without the sanction of the Speaker and Manohar Joshi, who remains the Speaker till a new one is elected, was not even asked. While Parliament can complain that the telecast was unauthorised, DD in turn accuses private TV channels of having purloined its footage without its sanction.

Skipping 13

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Former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s transfer of residence from Race Course Road to Krishna Menon Marg may take a while. The Krishna Menon Marg bungalow is still under renovation. The delay is because the last tenant, Murasoli Maran, had installed false ceilings, and the new tenants would like to revert to the original colonial structure. For superstitious reasons, the number of the house has been altered from 8 to 6A.

The fact that Vajpayee was generally referred to as the 12th prime minister and not the 13th was probably because of numerological considerations. Acting prime minister Gulzarilal Nanda was omitted from the head count. But now Nanda has once again been included, and Manmohan declared the 14th prime minister.

Governing principle

It is noteworthy that in the new Cabinet most of the senior officebearers in the party have been left out. Ambika Soni and Ahmed Patel will be assisting UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, so the omission is understandable. But general secretaries Vayalar Ravi, Mukul Wasnik, Mohsina Kidwai and R K Dhawan may have very little work since Rahul Gandhi is expected to join the party soon as organising secretary and induct young contemporaries like Sachin Pilot and Milind Deora. The only job opportunities for the remaining old guard may be sinecures in various Raj Bhavans.

Official move?

Jagdish Tytler has been in the wilderness for so long that a ministership of any sort, even MoS of a non-existent portfolio like NRI Affairs, was gratefully accepted. Tytler did not quibble that he had earlier been a Cabinet minister and held more weighty assignments. Instead, he spent his first few days as minister searching for a suitable space in South Block to set up an office. Meanwhile, Bhishma Agnihotri, the ambassador for NRIs who put in his papers last week, has an office-cum-residence in a swanky Manhattan apartment for which the government pays a whopping monthly rent of $20,000. Now that Agnihotri is moving out, it makes sense for Tytler to move to the cooler climes of New York till his office in New Delhi is set up. After all, his job description sounds similar to Agnihotri’s.