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| Pranab climbs up the ladder courtesy "bossy Babus" of Manmohan | | CHANGING POWER SCHEME OF DELHI - II | | Early Times Report
NEW DELHI, May 16: As United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government is going to complete its first year in office in its second tenure in a few days time from now under the stewardship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his teammates or Ministers should ideally feel more comfortable and assured. But sadly this is far from being so as indicated by the recent faux pas during Union Minister of State for Environment Jayram Ramesh's visit to Beijing.
Though Congress firefighters have been able to redeem an otherwise sorry episode, it nonetheless signifies a kind of restiveness taking root among middle level leaders who find top Government rung's approach towards them too "bossy to bear".
First indications of this came in February this year when at least four Central Ministers - Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni, Kamal Nath, and of course Jairam Ramesh -- had resented the practice of presenting their report cards periodically before bureaucrats in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
These Ministers had made their displeasure known against the unseemly norm made under Manmohan Singh though several of their peers could not gather the courage to do so. Their point was why the same practice not followed in case of the big four or Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, AK Antony and SM Krishna who looked after Finance, Home, Defence and External Affairs Ministries respectively.
Though power by its sheer nature brings competition, the four middle-level Ministers who tried to be looked aggrieved by what they thought to be Manmohan Singh's over reliance on Babus were not scrambling for more power for their own sake. Instead, they thought that race for power at the top was inevitable before it became even remotely visible.
As Babus are often sharper than those they are meant to assist or serve, the Cabinet Secretariat soon issued a statement to allay the fears attributed to Ghulam Nabi Azad and his three other colleagues, saying that only Prime Minister himself would monitor work of his teammates.
This caveat against the Babus and also through it against Prime Minister though in a roundabout manner was moved via Press, significantly in February, the month of Budget, when Finance Minister on his own happens to be in prominence.
And as the luck would have it, the sheer turn of events made Pranab Mukherjee somehow more prominent than what was expected. The Women's reservation Bill was met with noisy protests in Rajya Sabha and to see it through Sonia Gandhi relied mainly on Pranab Mukherjee and also Ghulam Nabi Azad among others leaving rest of Manmohan Singh's team watch and applaud from the sidelines.
Soon Pranab Mukherjee not only sailed through the cut motion brought against Finance Bill but also inflicted a wedge in Opposition ranks which is yet to be repaired in far off Jharkhand where BJP and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha led by Shibhu Soren are busy to hold on to their bruised alliance.
To accomplish all this Pranab had to cancel his visit to United States where he had to attend a meeting of International Monitory Fund (IMF) besides a few other engagements. And when Manmohan Singh went to attend Nuclear Safety Summit called by Obama, the IPL cricket crisis was let lose because of indelicate use of position by one of the Union Ministers of State. Sonia Gandhi again looked to Pranab Mukherjee to do his bit and help Prime Minister in facing this after his return from America.
Thus, chance has been favouring Pranab more than ever before throughout his long innings in public life. One crisis after the other has been taking his stock up as circumstances are making 10 Janpath to depend upon him more and more.
On the other hand Manmohan Singh has been undergoing through a rough patch where there are only a few takers for his move like Nuclear Liability Bill that had to wait and was introduced in the Lok Sabha only on the last day of the Budget Session since Opposition has been up in arms. Its inadequacies vis-à-vis compensation in case of a mishap at a nuclear energy plant have been keeping it hanging since this would have to borne mostly locally where the collaborating country would have to share little liability. (Concluded).
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