Manmohan Singh's former media adviser,
Sanjaya Baru, has come out with a tell-all memoir of his days in the PMO during UPA 1.
Manmohan Singh: The Accidental Prime Minister is like a House of Cards of Indian politics - not as ruthless as the American television series about Capitol Hill but terrifically real. In the midst of a general election, with six more phases to go, this could throw particularly harsh light on the Congress.
The sidelining of the prime minister by the party, as Baru describes it, will not do either of them much good. Dr Singh's tenure is coming to an end so he won't be bruised much, but the party will have some talking to do.
The damage-control has already begun. PMO's current media advisor, Pankaj Pachauri, has dismissed Baru's book "as an attempt to misuse a privileged position and access to high office to gain credibility and to apparently exploit it for commercial gains. The commentary smacks of fiction and coloured views of the former advisor". Baru has responded to the statement with a terse: "I am amused."
The Cabinet: Who Were His Allies & Critics
In the book, Baru says Singh had a difficult time in making his cabinet ministers fall in line. He did not allocate portfolios, he did not intervene much in cabinet meetings and the CCPA lost its edge. Instead, power vested with a Congress core group.
Watch: PM surrendered to Sonia and allies: Sanjaya Baru's book
While Singh found allies in the leaders of coalition parties of the UPA, he had to face much criticism from old-timers in the Congress.
Sharad Pawar, with whom Sonia Gandhi did not have the best of equations, was Singh's ally, says Baru. So was Lalu Prasad. But Vayalar Ravi, AK Antony and Arjun Singh were his critics in the cabinet. Antony might have been quiet in public but could be difficult in private, says Baru.
When the Left turned against Singh over the civil nuclear energy deal with the US and there were rumours that Pranab Mukherjee or Sushil Kumar Shinde might be considered as replacement, it was NCP's Praful Patel who assured Baru that they will not support anyone but "Doctor Saheb".
"I do not want any credit for myself"
Baru says the creation of the NAC was the first sign that "Sonia Gandhi's renunciation of power was more of a political tactic than a response to a higher calling". He says that Singh too realised that the buck stopped with Sonia.
Baru says that there was an eagerness to claim all social development programmes as the NAC's initiatives, even though, he says, the Bharat Nirman programme came out of the PMO - drafted by the late R Gopalakrishnan, who was joint secretary. When it came to NREGA, the claims became more insistent. Baru recalls that on September 26, 2007 - Manmohan Singh's 75th birthday - Rahul Gandhi led a delegation of general secretaries to 7 RCR to wish him. Rahul wanted to extend NREGA to all 500 rural districts in the country. Ahmed Patel handed over a statement about the meeting to Baru to be released to the press.
Baru put a spin to it, eager to apportion some credit to the PM. Anyway, Manmohan Singh himself had made a commitment about it on his Independence Day speech. So Baru sent a text message to journalists that this was the PM's birthday gift to the country. The blowback was swift. The PM summoned Baru. Baru told PM that the party wanted to give the entire credit to Rahul, but "you and Raghuvansh Prasad [who was then minister for rural development] deserve as much credit" .The PM snapped: "I do not want any credit for myself." A few minutes later he again said, "Let them take all the credit. I don't need it. I am only doing my work."
Like the Sanjaya of the epic, who becomes the eyes of the king during the war, this Sanjaya too is asked by the prime minister "to become the eyes and ears" in 2004. Even Singh would not have realised that it would turn into a devastating book. India is unfortunately used to sanitised political books. Baru's breaks the mould. It wouldn't be a surprise if paranoid future prime ministers bind future media advisers to iron-clad confidentiality clauses.
Manmohan Singh's former media adviser Sanjaya Baru’s book may bruise Congress - Page2 - The Economic Times