Sonia and Rahul Gandhi meeting their party's stalwart of many decades -- President Pranab Mukherjee -- is not unusual, but the timing of their visits is, notes Sheela Bhatt
The series of VVIP visits to the President is construed as abnormal, which raises a question; is there something more than meets the eye?
"I can only say that President Mukherjee is very upset with the way the government and other political leaders are facing the wrath of the media on television. He is concerned about the nation and wants to know many things," a source close to the President told Rediff.com.
When Mukherjee, who served as finance minister, shifted to Rashtrapati Bhavan, it was expected that he would go into political oblivion and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh would have the freedom within the government to do what he wished to do with economic reforms.
The prime space in the government's decision-making apparatus was unofficially occupied by Mukherjee instead of Dr Singh until the former's elevation to the Presidency.
Mukherjee's shadow stretched far beyond his ministry. He was the political brain, functioning within the government, for the Congress party. His role as ace troubleshooter was not hyped, but very real.
But it appears that even at Rashtrapati Bhavan, outside the political arena and away from party politics, Pranab Mukherjee has been at centre-stage this week.
At a time when the government has received constant flak, separate visits by Congress President and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday, October 16, and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday, October 18, has created a lot of buzz in the national capital.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari too met the President on Wednesday, October 17.
Most media reports suggest that the meetings at Rashtrapati Bhavan by three top Congress leaders was to discuss the Cabinet and ministerial reshuffle and the President's schedule in the coming days.
President Mukherjee will celebrate Durga Puja at his ancestral home, as he has always done.
While discussions on the swearing-in of new ministers, if and when the reshuffle takes place, can be held by the President and prime minister (they had an hour-long meeting), it does not explain Sonia and Rahul's visits at such a sensitive time.
Their meeting the Congress party's stalwart of many decades is not unusual, but the timing is.
A Rashtrapati Bhavan source, speaking on the condition that he would not be identified for this report, clarified that President Mukherjee had expressed his desire to see Sonia Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi's visit to Rastrapati Bhavan had been pending for a long time and was finally scheduled on October 18. This should not be seen as "part of some design," the source
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