New kid on Gandhi block

Meanwhile in Delhi

Sonia Gandhi appears to have zeroed in on a young up-and-coming bureaucrat to join the legion of family favourites in the civil services.

The chosen one is 46 -year-old Gyanendra Badgaiyan, a 1991 batch IAS officer from the Union Territories cadre. He has recently taken over as secretary of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, a post once held by two other 10 Janpath favourites, Pulok Chaterji and Wajahat Habibullah.

With Habibullah now retired and Chaterji just three years away from superannuation, Badgaiyan could emerge as a future point person for the Gandhis in the bureaucracy.

The IAS grapevine describes him as a bright officer, recently returned from Princeton University with a PhD. The 10 Janpath radar picked him up during his stint in the Delhi government as chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s secretary.

The successful Bhagidari scheme of the Delhi government, which gave the Capital’s resident welfare associations a stake in governance, is said to have been Badgaiyan’s brainchild. There is a point to be noted here.

The Gandhis seem to have a soft spot for those associated with the Delhi School of Economics. Badgaiyan is a product of this prestigious
institution where Manmohan Singh once taught.

Talking of the Delhi School of Economics (or D School, as it’s known in the Capital), the connection wandered into this year’s list of Padma Vibhushan award winners as well. One of the recipients of the country’s second highest civilian decoration was P N Dhar.

Most people were puzzled at his inclusion. Dhar had faded out of public memory several decades ago, to be precise, after Indira Gandhi lost power in an anti-Emergency wave. Yes, Dhar was her principal secretary during those tumultuous years. But hidden in the footnotes is another link, perhaps more important today.

Dhar was closely associated with the founding of D School where he connected with Manmohan Singh, then a young professor of international trade. It was Dhar who inducted Singh into the government and got Indira Gandhi to notice him.

The Padma Vibhushan seems to have been the PM’s way of saying thank you to the man who set him on his way to the country’s top job.

The Gandhis may be the First Family of Indian politics but there’s a First Family of Bihar politics coming up. The Janata Dal (U) is all set to nominate former union secretary, NK Singh, to the Rajya Sabha this April.

Singh is the elder brother of BJP MP Uday Singh. He also happens to be the brother-in-law of Congress MP Nikhil Kumar. The latter’s wife, Shyama Sinha, is NK Singh’s sister. If a last-minute hitch doesn’t stop NK Singh’s nomination, three members of one family will be in Parliament at the same time, albeit on different sides of the political divide.

Of course, all have a political lineage. Kumar’s father, Satyendra Narain Sinha, was one of Bihar’s most prominent leaders and a former chief minister. NK Singh’s mother, Madhuri Singh, was a Congress MP at one time. Politics seems to have become a serious family business.

TAILPIECE

The Congress was the first off the block with annual New Year lunches for the media. Veerappa Moilly, Kapil Sibal, Jaipal Reddy, Sachin Pilot and Sriprakash Jaiswal have all hosted feasts in quick succession.

The BJP, on the other hand, seems to have tightened its purse strings, with even Venkaiah Naidu dropping his famous lavish Andhra spreads from the Capital’s social calendar.

Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net