By Nora Chopra
Even if it’s a month before the possible cabinet reshuffle, the race for the top jobs has begun. Despite hectic lobbying from a certain quarter to make P Chidambaram the Finance Minister, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may very well continue to keep FinMin till the next budget. A section within the party is, however, of the opinion that the party should be duty-bound to stand by Chidambaram as he stood his ground against Hindu terror and moving him out of Home Ministry would be a total surrender to the saffron forces. But, in case Chidambaram finally lands up in finance ministry, then AK Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad’s names are making rounds to fill up the home portfolio. Sharad Pawar is being tipped as the next defence minister and if Azad loses out on the home ministry, he would be back as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister. Salman Khurshid, who was tipped to be the external affairs minister, now will find it difficult to save his chair even as law minister. He is, however, sure to lose his minority affairs, most likely to Rehman Khan. Anand Sharma is also in the race for external affairs. As for the leader of the house, there are three names in circulation — Chidambaram, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Kamalath. Shinde is the frontrunner as he has the longest experience of running the Maharashtra Assembly, where he was the chief minister. Chidambaram and Kamalnath have no experience of running the house, though they are senior to Shinde. Besides, Chidambaram is also ruled out because with him in the forefront, it will be difficult to run the house as he has the most number of detractors in the opposition.
Is Salman Khurshid eyeing Mayawati?
Congress is keeping its fingers crossed. With no stakes in UP, the Congress leaders of Uttar Pradesh have now set their eyes on other parties in pursuit of wining their seats. Salman Khurshid’s attack on Rahul Gandhi is being seen in that perspective. If the buzz is to be believed, Salman is in touch with Mayawati and can join the BSP before 2014. His personal secretary Alok Singh is the brother-in-law of Vinod Kumar Singh, the former tourism minister in the outgoing Mayawati government. Salman and Mayawati have been on the best of relations since the last several years. They have been exchanging mangoes as gifts. Mayawati, too, needs Muslim faces in her party so that she can make a dent In Mulayam Singh Yadav’s votes. But the question is that Salman has been twice the UPCC chief, but failed to make any impact. What difference can he make in the BSP?
English wars in Hindi heartlands
Dictionaries were pulled out by both the Congress and the BJP leaders to find out the meaning of the word “cameo” uttered by Salman Khurshid in an interview wherein he attacked Rahul Gandhi by saying till now we have only seen the latter’s cameos. None of them, including Ahmad Patel and Janardhan Diwedi knew the meaning of the word. Even semi literate journalists looked for the exact meaning of cameo to find out that it meant a person with a passing or a non-performing role. In Hindi some were translating it as Goonga Gudda a variation of the name given to Rahul’s grandmother Indira Gandhi by Lohia and others, Goongi Guria.
Ansari is Congress’s only option
If the Ambani brothers swung the deal for Pranab Mukherjee, it’s good news that the UPA’s Vice Presidential candidate Hamid Ansari is also their candidate of choice. Ansari has worked as senior fellow with Ambani research foundation before he became Vice President. The elder Ambani brother is perceived to be lobbying for him. His man Friday Rajiv Shukla is working overtime for both Pranab Mukherjee and Ansari. It is Shukla who had brokered the deal with the Mulayam’s Samajwadi Party and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party. The JD(U) support for Ansari is also the result of the direction given to Nitish Kumar and NK Singh by his corporate masters. NK Singh is famous as Mukesh Ambani man. Hamid Ansari, who is closely related to UP’s mafia don Mukhtar Ansari, has emerged as the frontrunner. Again, Ansari is not the first choice of the Congress but is the result of the dilemma within the Congress. Sonia Gandhi recently confided to a top CPM leader, with whom she is in constant touch that, ‘We have too may contenders in our party, starting from Saifuddin Soz to Mohsina to KC Deo to Rehman Khan and SC Jamir, and none of them but Ansari can get the consensus.” Looks like Congress’s confusion is Ansari’s gain.
Ahmad Patel is Congress’s new troubleshooter
Ahmad Patel has emerged as the master strategist within the Congress. In the last one month, it was Patel who has been doing the back channel talks: be it with Mulayam Singh Yadav, or Mamata Banerjee or Sitaram Yechurey. He has been in constant touch with Mamata and talks to Yechurey twice in one week. If Congress manages to get Mamata’s support for Pranab Mukherjee or Hamid Ansari, the credit should go to Patel alone. Similarly, he has been brokering the patch up deal on water between Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Shiela Dikshit. He keeps tab on every Congress chief minister and this man Friday of Sonia Gandhi is her chief troubleshooter with the allies. He knows when and whom to use for what.
SP undaunted by mayoral setback
Samajwadi Party that romped back in Uttar Pradesh with a thumping majority in the Assembly elections just three months back, failed to make a mark in the just concluded mayoral elections. The SP got just one seat in Bareilly seat out of twelve. One went to BSP, the rest to the BJP, with a clear indication that the upper caste and the middle classes in the cities once again polarised behind the BJP. The one seat that the SP won is represented by IS Tomar, originally an RSS man, who had revolted against the BJP for not giving him the ticket. Basically, against BJP’s Santosh Gangwar, Tomar contested as an independent, helping the Congress candidate Supriya Aron to win in 2007. Least bothered of the results, the chief minister has flown to the cold chimes of Australia with his family on a holiday, leaving the government to be run by father Mulayam Singh and his two chachas Shivpal Yadav and Azam Khan.
UPA at loggerheads with CAG Rai
The UPA government is gathering courage to hit back at the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai. The government is upset on two counts. One, because of the selective leaks of the reports, and second is the fact that the reports are ignoring the government version and question the policy decisions of the cabinet. Very recently, the ministry of civil aviation has written a strong letter to the CAG on its draft report. In the letter, the ministry has questioned the veracity of the report although facts were placed before the CAG. The ministry has given a call for fresh consultations before the draft report is finalised. Such a strong letter is unprecedented and could not have gone without the approval of the PMO. (IPA)