Why the Pranab-Chidambaram war is still not over

It is an old conflict between two individuals — one who worked long years to become close to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty but never succeeded in the manner that a younger politician did with relatively less labour.

Both are different in that one is older — a local from West Bengal — and the other from Harvard (he never lets anyone forget that) and Tamil Nadu. And yet they fancy the same space in government, with finance being the turf over which the two have never ceased battling. Both regard themselves as the ultimate economist capable of controlling India’s financial resources and direction.

The war between UPA’s two senior leaders, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and home minister P Chidambaram had been simmering for quite a while before bursting out in the open a few months ago. It is no secret in Congress circles that the two often disagreed at cabinet and core committee meetings, and were barely civil to each other. Even so the differences were papered over, and in public the two shook hands and smiled as long as it took to give the semblance of a united cabinet. Even so, in their famous off-the-record sessions with select journalists, the two often gave vent to not so subtle criticism of each other. A smile here, a refusal to comment there, a dismissive shrug of the shoulders — all were gestures calculated to let scribes know that the relationship was not exactly calm.

The feud came out in the open when Mukherjee bypassed Chidambaram to write directly to prime minister Manmohan Singh, claiming his North Block office had been bugged.

And that without informing anyone in the government — betraying a complete lack of trust in his colleagues — the finance minister had hired a private agency handled by former top officials of intelligence agencies, to comb his office.

At the time, the home minister had to officially announce he would order an Intelligence Bureau probe, a response Mukherjee ignored. After the story hit the media and became the focus of television chatter, Mukherjee retreated maintaining the investigation had yielded nothing. At the time, however, clearly planted stories appeared in the media maintaining that at least eight bugs had been found in the finance minister’s office during combing operations. This was not denied and sources now insist that after the ‘truth’ was known, the finance minister agreed to close the matter happy that the home minister had finally eaten dust.
During this period, a Delhi newspaper carried a story on the

“Importance of Being Omita Paul” who is currently advisor to Mukherjee in the ministry. It is a well-known fact that Mrs Paul has been accompanying Mukherjee for over 30 years, serving as his Officer on special duty or advisor in various ministries. Mukherjee’s camp attributed this story to ‘leaks’ from the home ministry and the feud sharpened with every passing day.

The genesis of this rivalry lies somewhere in the past. Mukherjee was fairly close to the former prime minister Indira Gandhi who recognised his astuteness as a politician. He was brought in as a deputy minister in 1973, and re-elected several times to the Rajya Sabha. After she came back to power, Mukherjee became her finance minister between 1982 and 1984. At this time, Manmohan Singh was the governor of the Reserve Bank under him.

Singh’s is also a success story that has never ceased to rankle, as Mukherjee found himself being equalled and overtaken by Chidambaram and Singh in the party hierarchy.

Also, his mistake of declaring his prime ministerial ambitions after Indira Gandhi’s death has continued to hound him. Mukherjee was virtually shunted out of the Congress and he went on to form his unsuccessful Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress. It was at this time that Chidambaram entered Congress politics and Rajiv Gandhi made him the deputy minister of commerce. He went on to become minister of state for internal security in the same government holding the post in 1989, just when Mukherjee came back into the party after making peace with Rajiv.

Interestingly, Mukherjee flourished during Narasimha Rao’s regime going on to become the external affairs minister. Chidambaram, on the other hand, left to join the Tamil Manila Congress, a successful enterprise unlike Mukherjee’s party, and became the finance minister of an opposition government in Delhi.

The two are also completely different personalities. Mukherjee is home grown, Chidambaram continues with a Harvard Business School hangover. Mukherjee’s English almost requires interpreters when he is abroad,

Chidambaram has perfected the clipped accent. Mukherjee, however, is far more popular in the party with Chidambaram always being seen by Congress workers, even in his home state, as alien. This is perhaps the one reason why Mukherjee still remains indispensable to the Nehru-Gandhi family as he can handle Congressmen better than both Singh and Chidambaram, or for that matter anyone else in the party. But the grapevine still places the home minister higher in Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s list of favourites, with Mukherjee’s access directly dependent on his current utility.

The deputy director’s letter apportioning part of the 2G scam blame on Chidambaram was part of this ongoing, all out war. The note was clearly driven by Mukherjee and represented a considered view of the ministry. Singh brokered some sort of a truce after meeting Mukherjee in New York and Congress president Sonia Gandhi by meeting the two warring ministers gave her blessings, it seems. But, clearly the story is far from over as the rot has gone too deep for this little show of unity to last for long.

The two ministers are daggers drawn, and it will not be long before they shed some blood again. Both are adept at playing the media, with specific reporters/editors being called for the proverbial “plant” even as others are prepared to deny the plant. The bitterness is on display, and will surely erupt again. The only question Congressmen are asking is, “When?”

The writer is a senior New Delhi-based journalist
inbox@dnaindia.net