Seer’s staff

Cousin brother network

The buzz in the bureaucracy is that Kerala has more than its fair share of representation in officialdom. Apart from the three high-profile positions in the PMO which are filled by Keralites, T K A Nair, J N Dixit and M K Narayanan, in the new appointments at the senior level, those from the state seem to be specially favoured. For instance, while many in the impanelled list of the 1970 batch of IAS officers are still waiting for a posting and only a few have made full secretaries—on the grounds that seniors in the 1969 batch should first be given a chance—K M Chandrashekhar has been singled out for special treatment and appointed Revenue Secretary. Commerce Secretary S N Menon is also from Kerala, as are the Additional Secretaries in the ministry, Gopal Pillai and Christy Fernandes. The newly appointed Director General for Foreign Trade (DGFT), K T Chacko, is a Malayali and so is P I Suvrathan, the Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat who is responsible for writing the minutes of cabinet meetings.

Some give credit to Principal Secretary to the PM T K Nair for the Malayali influx, but it is doubtful whether the low-key Nair has the clout or desire to do so. More likely it is thanks to the cabal of Keralites (V George, S Madhavan, Pillai and Tom Vadakkan) who have graduated from the Congress party typing pool and have now come to wield considerable influence at 10 Janpath and consequently with the UPA Government.

Not put to pasture

Apart from the triumvirate of Vajpayee, Advani and Joshi, past presidents of the BJP like Jana Krishnamurthy and Bangaru Laxman disappeared from public view once they lost their positions. Venkaiah Naidu was expected to follow suit especially as he had announced when stepping down from office that he was resigning because of his wife’s illness and that he planned to spend more time in the south tending to family matters. But Naidu continues to be prominent in the BJP’s decision-making process. Naidu accompanied Advani to the RSS meet at Hardwar and was part of the inner coterie which discussed the strategy for the Bihar elections and took the decision to go it alone for the Haryana assembly polls. Naidu was also present at the meeting with NDA allies at Vajpayee’s residence.

Perhaps one reason why Advani is slightly hesitant about taking Uma Bharati back into the fold is that Bharati had earlier given Naidu such a tongue lashing, questioning his mental competence, that the usually amiable Naidu is still smarting.

Squatting governor

Rameshwar Thakur flew down to Bhubaneswar with some family members to take over as the new Governor of Orissa. But after his swearing-in at Raj Bhawan he was in for a rude shock. The old governor, M M Rajendran, refused to depart. Thakur and family had per force to move to Puri where there is a guest-house for the governor. The next day Thakur left for Delhi and stationed himself at Orissa Bhawan hoping that his predecessor would pack his bags and quit the Governor’s mansion soon. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also sent emissaries to the Governor, but Rajendran, a retired IAS officer, insisted that since he had no formal intimation from the President he was not leaving, conveniently forgetting his tenure was over.

Earlier Rajendran had a run-in with the Orissa Secretariat when he insisted on charging TA and DA during his official tours, even though bureaucrats tried to explain to him that governors are not entitled to such perks, which are meant for babus.

Presidential pique

Because of the severe cash crunch in AIR, one of the new economy measures is that foreign correspondents may not travel without the express permission of the head office. Thus when President Abdul Kalam visited the UAE to condole the death of UAE President Sheikh Sayed bin Sultan al Nahayan, the AIR correspondent stationed in Dubai could not travel the 150 km from Dubai to Abu Dhabi to report live on the President’s visit. Doordarshan did not even bother to carry the news of the President’s visit.

On the other hand, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for the EU a few days later, two AIR correspondents accompanied him as did a DD crew. The President’s Office is reportedly miffed with such stepmotherly treatment. An additional grouse is that neither the Prime Minister nor Sonia Gandhi attended the President’s Id party. Was it a mere coincidence that President Kalam did not show up for the samadhi prayers on Pandit Nehru’s birth anniversary, as is customary?