Column

Meanwhile in Delhi

The hunt for a new ambassador to Washington is getting curiouser and curiouser, as Alice said.

The government seems to be in no hurry to find a replacement for the present envoy, Ronen Sen, who announced recently that he would head home once his tenure ends next month.

It could be the usual inertia that grips the Congress, the lead partner of the coalition, when a decision has to be taken. Or it could be, as is being whispered in foreign office corridors, that the mystifying lack of urgency is actually a ploy to give Sen his third extension in the job.

If government circles are to be believed, there are no takers for what is arguably the most coveted diplomatic assignment. The logical man for the job, the prime minister’s special envoy on the nuclear deal, Shyam Saran, is believed to have steadfastly declined the PM’s repeated offers.

The other candidate whose name was doing the rounds, the present high commissioner in Islamabad, Satyabrata Pal, has to stay put to tide over the volatile post-election period in Pakistan. Maharashtra governor SM Krishna, who was also being mentioned as a possible nominee, would prefer to plunge into Karnataka politics, according to the buzz in the Congress.

It looks like the odds are stacking up in favour of Sen. Unless 10 Janpath has other plans for the favoured former bureaucrat.

The other search operation occupying the government is for two new parliamentary affairs ministers. Incumbents Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and his junior, Suresh Pachauri, can’t wait to shed this tiresome job that keeps them on their toes when Parliament is in session.

Both have been given organisational responsibilities in their states and told to give up one of their ministerial portfolios. Was there a choice? Both were clear that they want to retain the job with the higher profile, information and broadcasting for Dasmunshi and personnel and CBI for Pachauri.

So, on the eve of a crucial budget session, the government is on the lookout for new men to manage Parliament. Inevitably, the Congress has chosen the easy option, which is to maintain status quo. Dasmunshi and Pachauri will continue in both their present ministries and manage their state party assignments as well.

The much talked about cabinet reshuffle is probably off and the party is rumbling with the usual complaints from aspiring ministers waiting in the wings. It’s strange that the same old faces surface when there’s change.

Ultimately, there’s no change at all. At the last count, as many as nine union ministers were also holding party posts. It makes one wonder whether the Congress lacks talent. Or maybe it doesn’t recognise it.

TAILPIECE

It’s what you’d call the foot-in-the-mouth syndrome. Or was it a slip of the pen? Loyalists of the beleaguered Nepalese king thought they’d hit upon the perfect plan to get sympathy for their cause when Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh went visiting to Kathmandu recently.

Late at night, they pushed under Singh’s hotel room door a long letter pleading for help to save the world’s only Hindu kingdom from extinction under Maoist rule. It was a real tearjerker, except that they signed off with the 0sentence, “We salute you Sir and all BJP members.’’ Oops! Wrong door buddy! Even if Singh was moved to at least give the King’s men a hearing, he couldn’t, not after being called a BJPwallah.

Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net