The UPA’s little master

Some of his colleagues,however,thought he was alluding to new responsibilities in the government. A day earlier,he was given the additional charge of the Ministry of Finance before the PM left for the hospital for heart bypass surgery. Although he was not designated as an officiating PM,he was actually handed over the reins of government for all practical purposes. As for the Finance Ministry,he was adjudged one of the best five finance ministers in the world in a 1984 survey by Euro Money,a journal published from New York.

Pranab is regarded as a maestro in matters of both governance and politics and has been the main advisor and trouble-shooter for both the party and the government. And he carries this reputation from Indira Gandhi’s days. In a visit to Saudi Arabia,when the host government presented its five-year plan,she suddenly asked Pranab to brief them about India’s Five Year Plan. Though unprepared,he made an impromptu presentation.

But Pranab’s political career has always been marked by surprises. He was attending a meeting in Calcutta in February 1973 when he was informed about then PM Indira Gandhi’s intention to induct him as a minister,according to a Congress source.

After losing his first Lok Sabha election in 1977,he had contested again in 1980 from Bolpur constituency against the wishes of Indira Gandhi. A well-known anecdote in Congress circles is that after the election results were out and Pranab was sitting dejected at his house in Kolkata,she called him up and reminded him that she,the party and “even Geeta (Pranab’s wife)” had known that he would lose the election and yet he contested. Two days later,Sanjay Gandhi called him up to say that his mother was upset with him but she believed that “there can be no Cabinet without you”. He advised Pranab to wait for Indira’s call. It came a few days later and she urged,“What are you doing in Calcutta? Come to Delhi immediately.” Much to his surprise,she gave him a Cabinet berth and handed him the crucial portfolio of Commerce and Steel & Mines.

There are several versions about Pranab’s exit from the Congress in 1985. The most popular version is that when Rajiv Gandhi,who was accompanied by Mukherjee on a special flight from Kolkata to Delhi following Indira’s assassination,enquired about the caretaker PM,Pranab was said to have suggested that it had to be the senior-most minister (purportedly implying himself). The response was believed to have led to his quitting the party.

However,P C Alexander,former principal secretary to the prime minister at the time of Indira Gandhi’s assassination,refuted these allegations against Pranab in his book Through the Corridors of Power: An Insider’s Story. Alexander asserted in the book that when he had suggested to Pranab,after their arrival to the hospital from Kolkata,that Rajiv should be administered the oath of office as PM without going in for interim arrangement,Pranab gave his assent without hesitation. “ A group of individuals,with malicious intent,later spread the canard that Pranab Mukherjee staked his claim to be sworn in as interim PM,” wrote Alexander.

By 1989 though,the ‘misunderstanding’ between Rajiv Gandhi and Pranab had been cleared and the latter was back in the party.

Since Sonia Gandhi took over the reins of the Congress,Pranab,with his vast experience in handling both party and government affairs,has proved himself to be an efficient and invaluable advisor — a role that had endeared him so much to her mother-in-law. Number two again in UPA regime,Mukherjee has become to Manmohan Singh what he was to Indira Gandhi. His indispensability for the government and the party,in fact,worked against him in the race for Raisina Hill in 2007.

Therefore,Pranab being given reins of the government,though not as officiating prime minister,came as no surprise. And it is likely that he would be very happy to present the interim budget in Parliament next month. If at all Pranab wished for anything else,as Indira Gandhi used to say,even if you hit him on the head with a hammer,all that will come out is smoke. She perhaps didn’t know then that he would quit smoking.