The rise of the quiet men

Two other MOSs will work under the PM. They are M V Rajasekharan, incharge of Planning and a leader from Karnataka known for his integrity and Suresh Pachauri, who is heading the Department of Personnel which has reverted to the PMO. Pachauri worked closely with Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha.

With the enhanced moral and political authority of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh’s PMO is not expected to acquire a high profile, as it did during Vajpayee’s tenure. During the last six years, it was dominated by one figure often referred to as the de facto PM. Brajesh Mishra was a partyman, Vajpayee’s close confidante, Principal Secretary to the PM, and the National Security Advisor rolled into one and called the shots on all major decisions from foreign policy and security issues to appointments. Over half the work of the PMO is about appointments, official, diplomatic, political, or gubernatorial.

In contrast, the new Principal Secretary, a Malayalee from Punjab cadre, is unassuming and given to keeping a low profile. At one stage, Manmohan Singh is believed to have considered Montek Singh Ahluwalia for the job given the rapport the two men enjoyed. They had worked together under the P V Narasimha Rao regime when the economy was opened up, but the PM played it safe because Montek might have been a red rag to the Left.

Berkeley-educated Prithviraj Chavan, a four time MP, may be called to become the interface between the PM and the party. Chauhan enjoys the confidence of both Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, and played a pivotal role in the turnaround in Gujarat as the person incharge of the elections in the state. Without those 12 seats that the Congress won in a state which looked difficult at the start of the campaign, it might have been a different story for the Congress. Known for his integrity and ability, he comes from a political family of western Maharashtra, which has all along been loyal to the Gandhi family.

Ever since the PMO came into existence during Lal Bahadur Shastri’s premiership, and L K Jha became the Principal Secretary, it has carried the imprint of the incumbent Prime Minister, its style and functioning determined by the personality of the Prime Minister. A quiet person himself, Manmohan Singh initially resisted the idea of having his photographs put up in Government offices all over the country. He is also for upholding tradition. Though modern and extensive facilities exist now at 7 Race Course Road for the PMO to function from the PM’s house, and the UPA’s Common Minimum Programme was released from 7 RCR, Singh reportedly is of the view that Cabinet meetings should be held in South Block.

In Nehru’s years, the PM’s office was known as the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, and Dinesh Singh had assisted Jawaharlal Nehru as a deputy minister attached to the PM. The PMO really came into its own during Indira Gandhi’s time when PN Haksar was her Principal Secretary. Haksar was believed to be the author the famous slogan of ‘‘Garibi Hatao’’ and the decision to go in for bank nationalisation which enabled Indira Gandhi to get the better of her opponents.

Rajiv’s PMO was also powerful under PC Alexander and then Sarla Grewal, but its authority waned under the coalition governments of Moraji Desai, V P Singh, Chandra Shekhar, H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral. The PMO acquired a high profile image again under Vajpayee and he relied heavily on his Principal Secretary. In 2001 when the RSS mounted an offensive against Mishra, Vajpayee silenced his critics by threatening to quit himself.

Bhuvnesh Chaturvedi, who was P V Narasimha Rao’s MOS in the PMO, accompanied the PM on all his foreign trips, was his emissary to other countries, sat in on all the Cabinet meetings, kept a tab on the terms of governors and ambassadors and coordinated with other parties on behalf of the PM. The MOS PMO is supposed to be the right hand man of the PM, his backroom boy politically. Rajiv Gandhi had Shiela Dixit towards the end of his term, Chandra Shekhar had Kamal Morarka and Vijay Goel held this position under Vajpayee for a short spell.

In addition to everything else, Manmohan Singh’s PMO will be called upon to coordinate with the party at every turn and much will depend on the direct communication that exists between the two main players, the PM and Sonia Gandhi.

Mindful about the PM’s position, Sonia Gandhi went to the Prime Minister’s house for the first meeting of senior Congress leaders to sort out the DMK Ministers’ crisis rather than have him coming to 10 Janpath. As prime minister designate, Singh had spent hours at 10 Janpath with her, poring over lists and finalising his cabinet. This was a break from the past, when Narasimha Rao used to come and call on Mrs Gandhi— though it may not add upto a shift in the power balance between the two.