Fly
on the Wall
The importance of PAs
Ghulam
Nabi Azad blamed Personal Assistants (PAs) of Rahul Gandhi for all the
mess the Congress was facing before quitting. Though he did not name
a particular PA but alleged that these assistants were responsible for
blocking access to Rahul Gandhi. But political analysts are surprised about this
allegation that Private Secretaries and Personal Assistants are known to be
playing key roles in the lives of Prime Ministers and all Congress presidents.
The importance of MO Mathai during the political journey of India's first
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru has been articulated in books. Ghulam Nabi Azad
who spent nearly 50 years in the Congress Party was fully aware of
the role played by R K Dhawan and M L Fotedar during the Indira Gandhi
era. It is not a secret that no one could meet Indira Gandhi without assistance
of he party has grown up in the Congress Party for almost 50 years and
knows very well the importance of private secretaries and Personal Assistants
in the party. He was fully aware that no one could meet Indira
Gandhi without them. It was part of the political culture in the Congress
Party and Chief Ministers, Cabinet Ministers & senior leaders had learnt to
live with it. The importance of V George was known to all
Congressmen as Rajiv Gandhi's PA. After his demise, he became the most powerful
Private Secretary to Sonia Gandhi in 1991 and served her for a long time. But
many leaders are hands on and create a system so that PAs don't over-step their
roles and keep shuffling them too. Yet, leaders heavily depend on their trusted
PS, OSDs and PAs who start filtering visitors wanting to meet the VIP.
Incidentally, R K Dhawan, ML Fotedar rose to become Union Ministers in the PV
Narasimha Rao government. V George missed his Rajya Sabha seat by a whisker. So
why blame Rahul Gandhi!
Pawar
spreading wings
At
a time when the BJP is on a massive poaching mission in Maharashtra, Bihar,
Jharkhand and elsewhere, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar is working hard to expand his
party’s base in Delhi and Haryana these days. If he held a youth conclave to
strengthen the party in Delhi’s Constitutional club of India, he presided over
a large gathering of party workers belonging to Haryana. He plans to hold such
conclaves in other states to strengthen the party. Insiders say that Pawar is
keen to have a finger in the pie during the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. However,
other NCP leaders feel that it is more a pastime rather than expanding NCP’s
wings in North Indian states.
New
AG anytime soon
In
a rare move, the Prime Minister asked the Attorney General of India K K
Venugopal to find his successor. The 90-year old has been given a three months
extension so that he can help the government find a successor. Finally, a
3-member committee has been constituted to recommend the name of new AG which
has short-listed three names; Solicitor-General Toshar Mehta, Rakesh
Dwivedi, C S Vaidyanathan, who argued Ram Janmabhoomi case in the Supreme Court
as an advocate of Ram Lalla. Earlier, the name of Darius J. Khambata of Mumbai
was doing the rounds. He held two distinguished public law offices: of Advocate
General for Maharashtra and of Additional Solicitor General of India.
Harivansh
to continue as RS Deputy Chairman
Rajya
Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh was in a dilemma about his continuation as his
party, Janata Dal (U), had severed ties with the BJP. Being a JD (U) Rajya
Sabha MP, he was expected to quit the post. When he did not attend the meeting
of all party MPs and MLAs in Patna last month, it was seen as an act of
defiance. But Nitish Kumar is reported to have conveyed to him that he may
continue to hold the post as he was elected unanimously by the entire House in
August 2018 and it is a non-partisan post.
Harivansh
doesn’t want to be seen as rebelling against Nitish Kumar, who brought him to
public life. He had sent a word to Nitish Kumar that he will abide by the party
diktat. But
the dust has been settled now. The BJP is also comfortable as he
has been handling the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha with tact and
toughness. Surprisingly, neither JD (U) nor Harivansh have commented on the
issue.
Tailpiece: The
August 28 Congress Working Committee was held with all three members of the
Gandhi family joining it during the mourning period as Sonia Gandhi’s mother
had died in Italy the previous day. The Gandhis had left India on August 23 and
yet they decided to join CWC through video-conferencing. Reason; they didn’t
want to be seen delaying the announcement of the organizational elections
schedule. The funeral took place on August 30.
