Institutionalising coordination between the Congress and the UPA Government, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has put into place several mechanisms to create a new synergy. The latest is the instruction to party office-bearers that if the Prime Minister visits a state, the party general secretary in charge of that state should brief him.There was a tizz in the PMO last Thursday when four senior party leaders came to South Block to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and it was obvious that they had not come with Dussehra wishes. The PMO grapevine was abuzz with speculation over whether a Cabinet reshuffle was around the corner. Ambika Soni and Ghulam Nabi Azad came to brief Singh about Kashmir. They were followed by Ahmed Patel and Salman Khurshid, who is general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu.Singh is now slated to go to J-K after Eid, and Soni and Azad are believed to have gone over the possible notes that the PM could strike while in the state. J-K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was in the Capital this week to firm up the visit and go over the package the PM would announce. Singh was due to visit the state in mid-September but was compelled to put it off at the instance of the Election Commission because of bypolls there .Patel and Khurshid are believed to have discussed the PM’s visit to Tamil Nadu for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Atomic Energy, and for the inauguration of the country’s fast breedor reactor programme at Kalpakkam. The PM was also scheduled to call on M. Karunanidhi, a meeting that was given high political billing but was called off because the DMK chief took off to Kodaikanal to finish the script of a film. It is curious that he could not take a helicopter back to Chennai to meet Singh. Karunanidhi has been the one that George Fernandes and Mulayam Singh Yadav have been wooing in their attempt to form an alternative government.Sonia meets Singh in a one-to-one session every Friday evening unless either is out of town. But another important mechanism she has evolved is the creation of what can be described as the Congress’ politburo to take major political decisions. After the PM-Sonia meeting, they are usually joined by five others — Pranab Mukherjee, Arjun Singh, Shivraj Patil, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel.The situation thrown up by the 2004 mandate had demarcated the areas of responsibility between the PM and the party president: He looks after ‘‘administration’’, and she ‘‘political matters’’.The idea of the ‘‘politburo’’ meeting is to hold a brainstorming session on issues before the Government and try and evolve a consensus on what can be done. The ‘‘politiburo’’, for instance, discussed the Shibu Soren case when it first resurfaced, and also what could be done after his release. He has been informed that he will be taken back into the Cabinet in the reshuffle that is on the cards in early November.Similarly, the ‘‘politburo’’ also gave a thought to handling Manipur. It was of the view that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act should be removed from Greater Imphal area to defuse the situation which had erupted in July after the alleged rape and murder of Manorama Devi. This core group of senior ministers and party leaders opposed the reimposition of the Act when some people raised the issue.The Savarkar issue, the handling of the Tiranga Yatra, the Censor Board controversy, the Left’s growing demands, the Maharashtra situation — all these are believed to have come up for discussion.
