I've cracked Coal Gate case: culprits are TKA Nair, Pulok Chatterjee, Ahmed Patel & Motilal Vora. TDK beneficiary. MMS on world tour.
By Swamy39
4+ hours ago | 27+ retweets
Swamy39
Time for PM, Sonia Gandhi to step down: Subramanian Swamy
Last Updated: Saturday, May 11, 2013, 11:53
New Delhi: President of Janata Party Subramanian Swamy on Saturday said it is time for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi step down, after two Cabinet ministers resigned.
Earlier, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who were caught in the web of allegations of corruption and interference with graft probe, submitted their resignation on Friday evening.
Commenting further, he said: "The two cases are different. It is again proved that every Congress minister is corrupt. Half their ministers are in the quest of getting their collars clean, then how do you expect them to have time to think about the commoners. An enquiry has also been ordered against Chidambaram."
"Nobody will be spared. Even if the Prime Minister is clean things have happened around him, and he has maintained silence... Hence Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi should resign," concluded Swamy.
Meanwhile, senior Communist Party of India (CPM) leader Atul Anjan commenting on the same issue and accused the ruling Congress of mismanagement amongst their own party.
Anjan said: "Congress have twisted the rules, they have been protagonists of most of the scams, one of their ministers had to be forced by the Supreme Court to resign. They cannot manage their own party nor can they manage the Cabinet, they are good for nothing."
ANI
http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/time-for-pm-sonia-gandhi-to-step-down-subramania_847844.html
COVER STORY
Chanakyas of modern India
By Prabha Jagannathan
Story Dated: Monday, July 2, 2012 16:4 hrs IST
The master brains behind powerful politicians see, hear, feel and think what their masters don’t
Rajendra Prasad, India's first President, is the only politician to move to the Rashtrapati Bhavan from the thick of action. Pranab Mukherjee, in all probability, will be added to that list in July. And the nation's gain will be the Congress's loss, as his departure means no more single-window clearances for the party's problems. In all these years as a crackajack strategist, master manipulator and a fluent juggler, Mukherjee served Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi as their unofficial Rajguru, their Kautilya.
That is no mean feat, considering that in politics a thin line separates Kautilya (or Chanakya, who was Chandragupta Maurya's adviser and the author of Arthshastra and Nitishastra) and Shakuni, known in the Mahabharata for his self-serving cunningness. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will know that well.
In May, Patnaik was in London to solicit investment from the European business community, projecting his state as resource-rich and well-governed. Hours after his presentation, came bad news from home—his political mentor and one-time aide Pyarimohan Mohapatra allegedly tried to topple his government. Patnaik hopped on the next flight back home, suspended Mohapatra from the party and axed two ministers.
Mohapatra, who was Naveen's father Biju Patnaik's secretary from 1990 to 1994, was behind all the key decisions taken by Naveen, including the 2009 break-up with the BJP, an ally for 11 years. “After the sweeping win in 2009, Mohapatra expected that Naveen would move to New Delhi and leave the coast clear for him in Bhubaneshwar. Instead, Mohapatra was shunted off to the Rajya Sabha, signalling strained relations,” explained an MP from the Biju Janata Dal.
With his control over the party organisation, it is said, Mohapatra engineered a rift between top bureaucrats and the chief minister during the recent spate of Maoist abductions of tourists, bureaucrats and party MLA Jhina Hikaka. What made the timing of the failed coup important was that, in an attempt to up his stakes in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Naveen had initiated a movement asserting the concerns of regional parties on policy matters. The Congress was not pleased with this, and it is said that Mohapatra had the help of the Congress in plotting the coup.
“Politicians of all hues have always had key aides or political mentors to support and second them,” said social scientist Shiv Vishwananthan. “Chandragupta Maurya needed a Kautilya to guide him on the art of political and economic strategy and governance. But relying heavily on one person can at times be a double-edged sword. Julius Caesar was literally back-stabbed by his closest crony, Brutus. Many leaders tend to distance from well-entrenched guides in order to preempt the eventuality of a takeover.”
Naveen, it seems, was trying to do that. “Earlier, Naveen needed inputs and information to take a decision,” said Baijayant ‘Jay' Panda, MP, once the BJD's best man in New Delhi. “Now he listens to several, consults some, but takes all decision solely by himself.”
At times, it reads like the fable of the king and his pet parrot, in whose heart his apparently invincible life lay. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Yadav was politically and financially reliant on the lobbying skills of Amar Singh. Mulayam dumped him once the lieutenant over-stepped.
The presence of advisers, at times, has an adverse effect on the fortunes of political leaders. J. Jayalalithaa, despite her political acumen and popularity, was highly dependent on aide Sasikala at a personal level. But the AIADMK supremo paid heavily for it. Similarly, BSP chief Mayawati depended heavily on the power troika of Satish Mishra, Shashank Shekhar Singh and Nasimuddin when she came to power in 2007. Observers say her downfall was triggered by their ‘betrayal' of her trust.
Political leaders of the older generations, too, relied heavily on aides and mentors. The aides, despite their sharp instincts, lacked charisma. According to Vishwanathan, it is not easy for guides and gurus to assume the mass-connect that a leader has with the public. “That sets the one apart from the other,” he said.
A case in point is Ahmed Patel, political secretary of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The highly influential politician from Gujarat is a complete failure when it comes to making any impact in his home state, prompting many to call him just a “glorified retainer of the Gandhi family”.
Very different from the quiet Patel is Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh. The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, who mentored Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh, never shies away from taking on mighty rivals or owning up mistakes.
Yogendra Yadav, social scientist at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, attributes politicians' lack of acumen to the requirement of aides. “Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi never felt the need for an adviser. He had the connect with people and political vision and took his decisions instinctively,” he said. Politicians these days are increasingly defined by legions of aides.
“THE WORK OF this back office is essentially managerial and not political in nature. Leaders like Rahul Gandhi have taken a lot of time to reach a take-off point in electoral politics. In the interim, they need to build an image of a thoughtful decision maker. That is the vacuum that these ‘mentors' and back-office boys fill,” said Vishwanathan.
The real test of these advisers and back-room brigades is in implementing their policies on the ground and delivering essentials in food, water, shelter, sanitation, health and education to the people, said Dr Pramod Kumar of the Institute for Development and Communication. He was hired to evolve the ‘Trust, Dignity and Productivity' model, which helped the Shiromani Akali Dal retain power in Punjab.
Yadav attributes the rise of political advisers to the economic boom, which has made decision-making ever more complex and brought about stronger ties between policy makers and corporate houses. But how far will they go? Said Vishwanathan: “Unless policy-driven institutional changes, such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the Right to Information Act and the Food Security Bill, are elevated to the third stage and directly linked to a new theory of democracy, there is little political importance that can be attributed to the back-room brains trust brigade and techno battalions.”
Over the next few pages THE WEEK features some of India's modern Chanakyas. Much as they are admired for their quick thinking and manoeuvring, they seldom taste success in electoral politics. That is the preserve of their masters.
rahul gandhi
kanishka singh
Knight in armour
The 35-year-old Kanishka, or ‘K', has been referred to as Rahul Gandhi's Ahmed Patel. While that might be true as catchy slogans go, the Gandhi scion's trusted lieutenant does not have the experience, suaveness or people management skills that Patel has. But Kanishka is still very effective.
Kanishka, who maintains a low profile, began playing a larger role in the party affairs as Rahul's stock went up in the Congress. The plan to remove Harish Khare, known to be close to Patel, from the Prime Minister's Office and bring in Pulok Chatterjee is attributed to Kanishka. It was aimed at easing Patel's clout in the PMO and make a trouble-free entry for Rahul.
“Within the party Rahul has immense clout and has been quietly calling the shots,” said a Congress leader. “He needs able assistance to shoulder his burden and to guide him on legislative, economic and governmental issues. Kanishka is his guide on things ranging from appointments to political strategies.”
Kanishka was involved in the ticket distribution decisions in the Assembly elections in Uttarakhand, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The Congress's miserable performance in the elections and the failure of the grandiose plan to revive the party in UP, in which he played an important role along with Digvijaya Singh, have prompted many critics to argue that textbook political aides are incapable of swinging votes.
nitish kumar
ramchandra prasad singh
Official choice
A 1984-cadre IAS officer from Uttar Pradesh, Ramchandra Prasad Singh quit his job in 2010, when he was the principal secretary to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and had eight more years of service. Two weeks later, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha. Some people say the elevation was an attempt by Nitish to reduce his over-dependence on Singh. Possible, because Nitish had been seeking his opinion on every single political and administrative matter.
Nitish spotted him in 1998 and invited Singh to work with him at the Rail Bhawan when he was the Union railway minister. Singh was the brain behind luring some opposition leaders into the Janta Dal (U).
He played an important role in selecting the candidates for the 2010 Assembly elections in which Nitish secured a remarkable victory. He was also the convener of the team that handed over signatures of 1.25 crore people from Bihar to the Prime Minister, demanding special status for the state.
mamata banerjee
mukul roy
Engine pilot
Mukul Roy was Mamata Banerjee's choice for the Union railway minister when she quit the post to become West Bengal chief minister. But when she met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the request, he shot it down. “The Prime Minister wanted her to nominate Dinesh Trivedi,” said a senior Congressman. Though she accepted Singh's suggestion, Mamata was visibly unhappy. The resentment grew as her relationship with Trivedi worsened. She did not hesitate for a moment to show him the door over a controversial railway budget, and give the post to Roy.
“For me, Didi is a symbol of justice and courage. I am only a soldier in the party,” said Roy. It is, however, well known that he is the first among equals in the Trinamool Congress. He joined the party when Mamata formed it, and was unnoticed among leaders like Pankaj Banerjee and Sudip Bandyopadhya. But over time he became her trustworthy adviser. He stood by Mamata during setbacks and played an important role in Trinamool's organisational growth in the rural areas.
Roy is Trinamool's face in the rural Bengal. When Mamata realised that the farmers of Singur were unhappy over the delay in getting back their land, which was acquired for the abandoned Tata Nano plant, she sent Roy to pacify them. He plays a key role in shaping the party's policy matters and raising party funds. He developed the strategy to reach out to civil society groups and worked with technocrats like Derek O'Brien to change Mamata's maverick image, which played an important role in bringing the party to power in West Bengal.
sonia gandhi
ahmed patel
Power centre
In the highest echelons of power, Ahmed Patel, Congress president Sonia Gandhi's political secretary, is known for his modesty. This despite the fact that he holds the keys to the party's treasure troves and manages its election strategies and orchestrates its back-room moves.
Elected to the Lok Sabha from Bharuch in Gujarat in 1977, 1980 and 1984, Patel has steadily grown in stature within the party to become the Congress's treasurer. Both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi are said to have offered ministerial berths to him, but he turned them down. When Sonia became Congress chief, he earned her trust and soon became her closest aide. “His biggest skill is discretion,” said a Congress general secretary. “He is a solutions man. His importance in the Congress can't be overstated.”
Patel played a crucial role in getting the UPA re-elected in 2009, and is the usual suspect behind every big political move by the Congress. Within the PMO, it is an ill-kept secret that all files dealing with the appointments of heads of public sector units are routed to him.
There is no doubt that Patel is one of the biggest power centres in the Congress, as party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar once put it. “The really powerful Congress workers go there [10 Janpath, Sonia Gandhi's residence] or to 23 Willingdon Crescent [Patel's residence], and only the hopeless go to 24 Akbar Road [Congress headquarters].”
m. karunanidhi
durai murugan
Instant messenger
M. Karunanidhi himself is referred to as the Chanakya of modern Indian politics owing to his political acumen and shrewd moves. By nature he neither depends on nor dismisses anyone while taking political decisions. One exception was Murasoli Maran, whom the DMK chief called his conscience.
After Maran's death, Karunanidhi's closest aide has been former minister Durai Murugan. It is difficult to see the octogenarian leader these days without Durai by his side.
Durai is known for his loyalty to Karunanidhi. He plays an important role in making the strategy of the party in the Assembly and has a strong say in crucial decisions. He acts as a proxy for Kanunanidhi when the leader wants to send across indirect messages.
When the DMK was in power Durai had been the main defender of the government's policies. He has a thorough knowledge of the river water disputes pertaining to the state, which is crucial considering the sensitivity of the matter. Though he is seen as close to the Stalin, Durai maintains a good rapport with M.K. Alagiri and Kanimozhi as well.
j. jayalalithaa
cho ramaswamy
Man of the moment
Cho Ramaswamy was Jayalalithaa's Chanakya as she scripted a massive victory in the 2011 Assembly elections by forging an alliance with Vijayakanth's DMDK. Many credit him with influencing the AIADMK chief's decision to kick her aide Sasikala out of her Poes Garden residence soon after coming to power. Though Sasikala has since made a comeback, her influence over Jayalalithaa has come down.
A seasoned political analyst, columnist, playwright and comedian, Cho, or Srinivasa Iyer Ramaswamy, edits the Tamil political weekly Thuglak. “Cho's advise regarding Sasikala seems to have helped the AIADMK leader. It was a determined attempt to cleanse the administration. She has now lost her corrupt image,” said a senior journalist. Though Jayalalithaa depends a lot these days on Cho's political acumen, she does not have the habit of sticking to an adviser. In fact, she does not trust people easily, and prefers making decisions on her own.
mufti mohammad sayeed
naeem akhtar
Valley's voice
He was Sheikh Abdullah's press officer, has worked with Farooq Abdullah. But it is not with the Abdullahs but their arch rivals Muftis that Naeem Akhtar, 60, has struck a chord. He was political secretary to Mufti Mohammad Sayeed before assuming the role of the People's Democratic Party spokesperson.
It is no secret that the Mufti draws heavily on Akhtar's political acumen. Important policy decisions of the PDP are incomplete without his inputs. Like any good spin doctor, he is a good media manager. Policy statements and important speeches do not make it to the press without him vetting them.
A good grasp of Kashmir's chequered polity and the time he spent in administration turned Akhtar, a former bureaucrat, into an astute strategist. He was behind the idea of the Mufti inviting Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Kashmir in 2003. He ensured that Vajpayee addressed people at the Sher-i-Kashmir cricket stadium instead of just talking to the media at the Srinagar airport. It was a masterstroke. “Inviting Vajpayee to Kashmir was a risky decision, but it paid off,” said Akhtar.
Some of the symbolic decisions that the PDP took after coming to power in 2002 are attributed to Akhtar. Allowing traffic on the Gupkar Road, which had been an exclusive domain of security forces and the Abdullahs, won the hearts of Kashmiris. Akhtar also played an important role in disbanding of the notorious State Task Force, the anti-militancy wing of the Kashmir Police.
lalu prasad yadav
jagadanand singh
Yours faithfully
Seek Jagadabhai's opinion before signing on any paper. He is the only man you can blindly trust. Do not even trust your brothers.”
That was the advice Lalu Prasad Yadav gave his wife, Rabri Devi, just before he was packed off to jail for his alleged involvement in the fodder scam. Jagadanand Singh, or Jagadabhai, a Lok Sabha member from Buxar, has been associated with Lalu for the past 35 years.
Lalu has reasons to have blind faith in Jagadanand. First, the man is known for his honesty and integrity. Second, his loyalty has been tried and tested on many occasions in the power politics in Bihar, in which Lalu had many ups and downs. Third, he is an able administrator. When Lalu was the chief minister, Jagadanand held half-a-dozen important ministerial portfolios.
Jagadanand was instrumental in making Lalu the leader of opposition after the death of Karpoori Thakur in 1988, and the chief minister in 1990. He was one of the three people present in the meeting that decided to stop L.K. Advani's rath yatra and arrest him in 1990. The move created the Muslim-Yadav vote bank in the state, which helped Lalu stay in power for 15 years.
Lalu's fall from power saw an exodus of leaders from the Rashtriya Janata Dal into the ruling coalition. There have long been attempts to lure Jagadanand also to the JD(U). But he has been spurning them. “I am not a political prostitute,” he said. “As long as I am in politics, I will remain with Lalu Prasad.”
oommen chandy
shaffi mather
Development agent
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy would be the last person needing advise on political matters. In his second term, the veteran leader is working hard to change the state's underdog status in industrial and infrastructure development. And pivotal to that plan is Shaffi Mather, Chandy's economic adviser.
Mather is in charge of monitoring the progress of the programmes suggested by Sam Pitroda, the state's mentor for development, such as setting up of a chain of ports along the Kerala coast and establishing a knowledge city in the state. As the convenor of the party's Economic Planning and Policy Committee, he works closely with Chandy in the party and the government.
Mather's association with Chandy started at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland in 2006. Chandy, who was there to present a paper, had a fall and suffered a fractured hip, and had to stay back longer than expected. Mather was his primary aide there.
Though Mather's mandate is the implementation of the development programmes suggested by Pitroda, his immediate attention is to ensure that the projects declared by Chandy are on track. Said former minister M.M. Hassan: “His knowledge and experience as a successful entrepreneur will definitely help the government.” The chief minister seems to be counting on that.
with Tariq Bhat, Lakshmi Subramanian, Rabi Banerjee and Sabarinath Bahuleyan
http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?tabId=13&contentId=11912415&BV_ID=@@@
Published on Feb 28, 2013
T.K.A. Nair (born in 1941 as Thottuvelil Krishna Ayappan Nair[1]) is an Indian civil servant who currently serves as Adviser to the Prime Minister of India[2] with the rank of the Minister of State. He is a 1963 batch Indian Administrative Service officer from Punjab Cadre.[1]
He also presently serves as Member of Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation and Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXsNYCAyqYg