Either former UP chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is in desperate need of an image consultant or else US-based entrepreneur and investor Frank Islam, who hails from Azamgarh and studied at the Aligarh Muslim University, needs to improve his knowledge about his Indian roots.
In India recently as a member of President Obama’s delegation, Mr Islam said he wants to “give back” to his country after making a success of his life back in America. During his stay here, he met UP CM Akhilesh Yadav to discuss plans for his university and hometown, which includes setting up an IT hub between Azamgarh and Varanasi.
Mr Islam came back impressed with the young CM’s development-oriented outlook but was baffled by his encounter with another Yadav who he did not recognise. “Yeah, yeah”, he affirmed when asked if the gentleman’s name could possibly be Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav. Clearly, this does not reflect well on Mr Islam considering the grand plans he has drawn up for his hometown but is clueless about the identity of the Azamgarh MP. Or, perhaps, that Mr Mulayam needs to brush up his PR skills if he is serious about developing his constituency.
The strong brahmin lobby in the Congress is learnt to have swung into action to protect senior party general-secretary Janardan Dwivedi who found himself in a spot recently for his pro-Modi statement. Mr Dwivedi’s colleagues, who were constantly pulled up by him when he was media chief, for making embarrassing statements, are clearly disappointed that the senior leader had managed to get a reprieve. At one stage it appeared that Mr Dwivedi, known for his proximity to Sonia Gandhi, would find it difficult to escape censure. This was evident when Mr Dwivedi was publicly humiliated by a far junior leader Ajay Maken, who declared at a press briefing that disciplinary action was likely to be initiated against the senior as no individual could be allowed to change the party’s ideology.
Another general-secretary, P.C. Chacko, sought to put a lid on the controversy stating that the issue had been resolved after Mr Dwivedi clarified that he had been misquoted.
Mr Maken, who is said to speak on behalf of Rahul Gandhi, however, continued to insist that the last had not been heard on this issue. But nothing has been heard since the initial flurry of activity. While Mr Dwivedi met senior leaders to explain himself, he was also helped out by his fellow caste members who apparently prevailed upon the leadership to put this issue on the backburner.
Although it appears likely that senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad will succeed in retaining his Rajya Sabha seat and his position as the Leader of the Opposition when elections for four seats in the Upper House from Jammu and Kashmir are held on February 7, it seems finance minister Arun Jaitley would be happier doing business with the deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress leader Anand Sharma. The two may be on different sides of the political divide, but Mr Jaitley and Mr Sharma have an old association.
Way back in 1978, when Mr Sharma was with the Youth Congress and Mr Jaitley with the ABVP, they had travelled together to Moscow for a youth festival and shared a room for the duration of their stay. This old association enabled Mr Jaitley to establish a personal rapport with Mr Sharma during the Winter Session of Parliament when the latter stepped in for Mr Azad who was busy with the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls. The finance minister found Mr Sharma to be amenable to economic reforms and the two were able to arrive at a consensus on the stalled insurance bill.
But Mr Jaitley will have to turn on his charm offensive again, when Mr Azad returns in the forthcoming Budget Session. The Congress and other Opposition parties have not taken kindly to the National Democratic Alliance government’s decision to promulgate ordinances on various pending bills. So the going may get tough.
It is ironical that while the Narendra Modi government has cut short the tenure of foreign secretary Sujatha Singh and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief Avinash Chander, it readily gave a six-month extension to Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth even though he was appointed by the United Progressive Alliance government. However, there is a purpose behind this move.
The ruling alliance is not particularly keen on the senior bureaucrats who are next in line for this coveted post. It, therefore, decided to give a third extension to Mr Seth as the officers who would have otherwise been in contention would retire during this period. This would enable the Prime Minister to pick a person of his choice. According to the grapevine, power secretary P.K. Sinha is a top contender for this sought-after post.
The writer is a Delhi-based journalist
