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Cronyism of the Congress variety has again reared its head in the Ministry of External Affairs, sending diplomatic postings into a tailspin.

With our man in London, Kamlesh Sharma, getting the nod from 10 Janpath to contest for the Commonwealth secretary general’s post because of filial connections (his brother-in-law is a close friend of Sonia Gandhi), a vital link in a chain of movements in world capitals has been snapped.

Sharma will stay on in the UK on extension till November, when the name of the new secretary general is announced. It means his designated successor in the High Commission, Shiv Mukherjee, cannot move out of Kathmandu where he is ambassador.

Mukherjee’s enforced continuance has blocked Rakesh Sood, who is due to move from Afghanistan to Nepal. Frustrated MEA mandarins are now holding back on a choice of successor for Sood, in case there’s further delay.

And aspirants for the challenging Kabul assignment have been forced to cool their heels till the blockage in London is cleared.

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It’s not a pretty picture, especially since India may well wind up with a bloody nose at the end of the long wait. It seems the response to Sharma of the ‘ABC’ countries (Australia, Britain and Canada), the Big Chiefs of the Commonwealth, has been rather tepid. Nothing against the gentleman, as such, but they had wanted a senior person for the post, at least of the rank of a former foreign secretary, India was told.

The Prime Minister was all set to nominate Shyam Saran but as soon as the news was leaked to the media (by the PMO, no less), word came that 10 Janpath had a candidate in mind. Saran’s name was hurriedly withdrawn and Sharma became India’s nominee. There were ominous signs almost immediately.

Two days later, Malaysia announced that its culture minister, Rais Yatem, was in the race. It jolted the government because Malaysia had indicated earlier that it wasn’t interested in the post.

Knowing the way these things are done, the MEA has drawn the obvious inference — Rais Yatem is being propped up by the‘ABC’ countries as a mark of protest against India’s cold shoulder to their request for a candidate of stature.

You’d have thought the Government of India would be wary of inviting another embarrassment at an international forum after Shashi Tharoor cut a sorry figure in the race for the post of UN secretary general.

Tharoor leveraged his connections to the powerful Kerala network in the Congress for his nomination, defying disapproving noises from the Big Boys of the UN, the US and China. History may repeat itself, unless Sharma manages to win over key voters in the Commonwealth group. Cronyism works only in the government, not in international organisations.

TAILPIECE

With so much on his mind, Pranab Mukherjee quite forgot to check the weather in Ethiopia, his most recent destination abroad. He assumed that being Africa, it was bound to be hot.

A few hours before he was due to catch the flight, an aide thoughtfully pointed out that Ethiopia is on the other side of the Equator and temperatures were hovering close to 0 degrees Celsius.

A panic phone call to his daughter sent her scurrying home, only to find that his warm clothes were lying crumpled in a cupboard.

She managed to get one suit ironed and ready for him to wear for travel. The rest were handed over to the laundry department of the hotel in Addis Ababa immediately on arrival.

Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net.