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All the Prime Minister's Men

Rajesh Ramachandran in New Delhi

Some have been with him for long. A few have hitched on to the best gaddi possible. But now, irrespective of the pedigree, they are members of the Inner Circle at the Prime Minister's Office.

Among the movers and shakers are two PMs -- Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pramod Mahajan, better known as PM among a section of the bureaucracy and the media.

Though the other PM lost the election from Bombay North-East, he was sure to have been accommodated in government office, particularly when another heavyweight who also lost out, Jaswant Singh, was made deputy chairman at the Planning Commission.

The notification, from the prime minister's office on April 2, announcing Mahajan as Vajpayee's political advisor with Cabinet rank, was not exactly surprising.

Earlier prime ministers had ministers of state in the PMO. But Sheila Dixit, who was in Rajiv Gandhi's office, and P V Narasimha Rao's minister Bhuvenesh Chaturvedi, were members of Parliament and hence accountable to the House.

And there were non-political individuals like G Parthasarathy who was Indira Gandhi's foreign affairs advisor. Congress presidents, who were also prime ministers like Indira Gandhi and Rao, had M L Fotedar and Jitendra Prasada as their respective political secretaries.

Mahajan's appointment was promptly politicised with the Opposition asking how such an appointment, which the home ministry and the Cabinet reportedly declined to notify, could be announced by the PMO.

Mahajan is a fine crisis manager. His much-acclaimed political prowess to make new friends and keep the old ones happy would be put to good use in managing the 18-party coalition. But that could be his undoing, too. For he has also acquired the unnecessary tag of a political manipulator.

When the Inder Kumar Gujral ministry was taking its last breath, Mahajan was reportedly active in trying to split the Congress and cobble up a majority. Even the Young MPs Forum and the unsuccessful bid by first-timers in the 11 Lok Sabha to keep Parliament alive had Mahajan's blessings.

But what startled observers was the ease with which Mahajan came to be identified with Vajpayee. Mahajan was always known as party president and Union Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani's protégé. So it was speculated that, ever since he had his 13-day-tenure in the defence ministry in 1996, Mahajan had grown closer to Vajpayee.

It was also argued that Mahajan's appointment in the PMO is an attempt by the Advani camp to keep the prime minister in check.

But Mahajan will, in any case, be an asset to the prime minister in helping the party perform the difficult tightrope walk.

The first appointment in the PMO was that of Brajesh Mishra, as principal secretary to the PM. With Vajpayee holding the external affairs portfolio, Mishra, a former Indian Foreign Service officer and convener of the BJP's foreign affairs cell, would be of immense help.

Mishra, who formulated most of the party's foreign policies for its manifesto, has served as an ambassador to China and Indonesia and also headed the United Nations Commission on Namibia.

After the UN assignment, Mishra -- whose father D P Mishra was considered the Chanakya of Congress politics and helped Indira Gandhi become prime minister -- joined the BJP in 1991. With his training as a bureaucrat, experience in foreign affairs and seven-year stint in the party, he is considered the ideal candidate for the principal secretary's post which has a bureaucratic and political brief.

Sudheendra Kulkarni, formerly a senior journalist with The Sunday Observer and Blitz, has defied the conventional wisdom about mutually exclusive Advani and Vajpayee camps. Kulkarni has been one of Advani's close aides for the last couple of years and has accompanied the party president on most of his recent campaigns.

Kulkarni is already a member of the PMO, awaiting an official announcement of his appointment as an officer on special duty. He was earlier in charge of managing the BJP website and has been a party ideologue, helping out the leaders in formulating policy.

The only serving bureaucrat who is a member of Vajpayee's inner circle is Shakti Sinha, a Delhi cadre Indian Administrative Service officer. Sinha was appointed Vajpayee's private secretary after he became leader of the Opposition in 1993.

The man with no political standing or bureaucratic credentials and yet perhaps closest to the prime minister is Ranjan Bhattacharya.

After his marriage to Vajpayee's foster daughter, Ranjan has been the leader's virtual shadow. He has accompanied Vajpayee on all his tours, especially during the hectic election campaign. Though he does not have any official status in the PMO, the Patna-born Bhattacharya's proximity to Vajpayee undoubtedly spells political clout.

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