Though the term of President APJ Abdul Kalam will expire in July, lobbying is already on for the next incumbent. And no prizes for guessing what opinion Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi has on the sub- ject of whether the missile man should get a second term. In the first place, Kalam was hurriedly installed in Rash- trapati Bhavan by the previous prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to pre-empt the scientist’s departure for foreign shores. Then, the Congress was acutely embarrassed when President Kalam sent back the office-of-profit Bill, seeking clarifications. Worst of all was when Kalam doggedly re- fused to endorse the Congress move to impose President’s Rule in Uttar Pradesh, prompting Congressmen to remark that he was “a diploma-holder President” unfamiliar with Constitutional technicalities.
Finally, when a facilitator-turned-close-friend of the UP chief minister announced the support of the Sama- jwadi Party for Kalam’s second term, it snapped Sonia’s patience. She made up her mind to oppose it and Kalam, who easily read her mind, went on record to indicate he was uninterested in a second term.
| All the CM’s Congressmen in UP mulayam-go-round The Congress leaders of Uttar Pradesh may defer to Sonia Gandhi but owe their fortunes to her arch enemy, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party. Pramod Tiwari, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, is said to have a rocking rapport with the chief minister and has praised him in the House. Sources say Tiwari’s son-in-law, Am- bika Mishra, is doing roaring business through Ambalika, his construction com- pany in Lucknow, courtesy the UP gov- ernment. After his marriage to Tiwari’s daughter, he has reportedly bagged tenders amounting to Rs 1,000 crore from the UP Public Works Department. Beautification of city roads, and linking the golf club to the ring road, is now in Ambalika Construction’s pocket. It is also reliably learnt that the contracts for construction of the Sahara Mall in Lucknow and the proposed office-cum- residence (reputed to be worth Rs 100 crore) of Sahara India Managing Worker Subrato Roy “Saharasri” in Sahara City has been awarded to Mishra. It is wide- ly known that Saharasri and the chief minister have a common friend, who is close to a Bollywood film star. Further, Tiwari’s daughter—a Sa- hara staffer—reportedly aspires to join politics. The chief minister changed the Pratapgarh district collector twice be- fore the coming polls. It is said that this was done to let Tiwari manage his elec- tion from Rampur Khas constituency in the district. Other Congressmen are also indebted to the chief minister. Jagdambika Pal reportedly got a no-objection certifi- cate from the state government for his proposed dental college on the Rae Bareli road just three days before such approvals were banned. The UP Con- gress Committee (UPCC) spokesman, Akhilesh Pratap Singh, is said to have recently established access to the chief minister through the vice-chairman of the Lucknow Development Authority, BB Singh—the man who allotted 28 plots to the chief minister’s relatives and senior bureaucrats, provoking a court inquiry. UPCC chief Salman Khurshid is also considered close to the chief minister, so much so that people approach him for land allotments to set up schools. Khurshid’s wife, Congress MLA Louise Salman Khurshid, spends a good deal of time on the UP secretariat’s fifth floor —where all-important offices are locat- ed. Sources reveal she was inclined to accept a berth in the Mulayam cabinet. Her husband reportedly had a hard time preventing her, to forestall embarrass- ment to him. |
Will he, won’t he? cabinet secretary term tizzy
Sources say that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is pondering the grant of yet another extension to Cabinet Secretary BK Chaturvedi. His current two-year extension is due to end in June. The government, especially the
PMO, works in its own inimitable style and it will be interesting to see whether it grants him another extension for a year or chooses to appoint him governor of a state. It is said that Chaturvedi would like to be governor of Delhi. Incidentally, the post of lieutenant-governor of Delhi is also about to fall vacant as the present incumbent, BL Joshi, wants to go out of Delhi.The third option before the gov- ernment is to give Chaturvedi an important ambassadorial appointment.
Now, the IAS fraternity is comfortable with the last two options but not the first.The first time he got an extension, the career of nine senior bureaucrats was affected. Reva Nayyar, president of the IAS Association, resigned in disgust.This time round, a similar number of officers stand to be affected.
Bureaucrats emphasize that they are not against Chaturvedi, but against the granting of extensions that stall other people’s careers.They state that, if an indi- vidual is indispensable, he can be accommodated in the PMO or elsewhere. IAS association members feel the PMO should appoint a meritorious and senior of- ficer instead of giving Chaturvedi another extension.
Rajnath’s secret verbal weapon language as ammo
The speech writer is not yet a conspicuous backroom figure in Indian political par- lours, as is the case in the US of A. Yet, many an Indian politician is now using the services of the brainy aide in addition to those of the brawny brigade. Probably the first time that speech writers figured in the Indian political scene was when Rajiv Gandhi made his entry with his band of baba log. Mani Shankar Aiyar was the brain behind such ear-catching phras- es as “power-brokers”—used by Rajiv at the Congress centenary function in Mumbai in 1985. And, some time ago, Jairam Ramesh admitted on a TV show that he wrote speech- es for Sonia Gandhi.
Well, the Bharatiya Janata Paty (BJP) leaders don’t want to be left behind. BJP presi- dent and UP strongman Rajnath Singh has found his Man Friday in Sudhanshu Dwivedi, an engineering graduate from Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agricultural Sciences who now teaches at a Lucknow engineering college. Dwivedi is also a Rashtriya Sway- amsevak Sangh (RSS) cadet.
When Rajnath joined the Atal Behari Vajpayee government as agriculture minister towards the end of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) second term, he brought Dwivedi to the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) and then inducted him into the agriculture ministry as his adviser—on deputa- tion, of course.
After the electoral defeat of 2004, Dwivedi returned to NAFED in Delhi but continued to contribute words and ideas for Rajnath’s use. Now, the arena of activity has shifted to the inner circles of the party. It is believed that when Rajnath threw his hat into the leadership—read prime ministerial—ring, declaring, “Yeh barat hai satta ki sundari ko desh ki rajdhani mein ley jaane ki. Aur iss barat ka main hi dulha hoon,” it was Dwivedi who provided the verbal fusillade.
Political lords need their knights and Dwivedi is turning out to be one such knight for Rajnath, who is aspiring to be the lord of the saffron party.
Thakur Gang of Four caste adhesive
The past month saw some hectic activity in Uttar Pradesh, with the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre unsuccessfully trying to get the Mulay- am Singh Yadav regime dismissed and President’s Rule imposed. Relations between the UPA’s chief constituent, the Congress, and the Samajwadi Party have never been cordial and the Con- gress clamoured for President’s Rule following the discovery of human skel- etons in Nithari in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. But the party’s lack of understanding of Thakur politics stood exposed.
Its chief coalition ally, the CPI(M), opposed any such dismissal but BJP president Rajnath Singh declared his party would support Central rule if the Congress were really serious. The Con- gress’ lack of strength in the Assembly was a factor and BJP support was cru- cial. But wily Mulayam got his party secretary, Amar Singh, to convince BJP leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in a Thakur-to-Thakur talk that it was quite unnecessary for the saffron party to up the ante at a time when its prospects had started looking up in UP and that the Congress would never return the favour. Shekhawat then sounded party colleague Jaswant Singh and the Thakur foursome of Shekhawat, Amar, Jaswant and Rajnath reached a compromise.
