rediff.com
News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

Rediff.com  » News » Don't miss the signs: Pranab eyes Rashtrapati Bhavan
This article was first published 12 years ago

Don't miss the signs: Pranab eyes Rashtrapati Bhavan

Last updated on: June 8, 2012 13:03 IST

Image: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is the top contender for the President's post
Photographs: Reuters Aditi Phadnis in New Delhi

Pranab Mukherjee's initials are PM. But everyone in the finance ministry is convinced he's the one moving to Rashtrapati Bhavan in the next few weeks.

In the capital, the mercury may have fallen after a bout of pre-monsoon showers. But the political temperature is rising. Officers in the finance ministry are sensitive to temperature. Work is on with breathless speed to get the finance minister's signature on the residual Budget-related notifications. Officers with sharp antennae have told juniors to get files cleared while the going is good, because 'an announcement' may come any day.

...

Don't miss the signs: Pranab eyes Rashtrapati Bhavan

Image: Guards stand in the Mughal gardens surrounding Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi
Photographs: Reuters

On Friday, Mukherjee had a conversation with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader T R Baalu. Along with other colleagues, Baalu met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress President Sonia Gandhi in what was the second round of consultations about the next President of the country.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is watching the situation carefully. A leader pointed out that Mukherjee was not present at the meeting on infrastructure the PM chaired on Thursday. Several telecom operators are agog. They are expecting a new chief of the empowered group of ministers on telecom soon.

Don't miss the signs: Pranab eyes Rashtrapati Bhavan

Image: Everyone in the finance ministry is convinced that Pranab is moving to Rashtrapati Bhavan

Equations are changing fast within the government as well. Officials from the Prime Minister's Office have now begun liaising with the department of economic affairs in the finance ministry to firm up plans in power and other infrastructure sectors. More calls are going directly to officers in North Block from the PMO now than in the entire three-year period that Mukherjee was minister.

The DEA's original role -- as the coordinating wing of government between various ministries and the PMO -- appears to have been restored. The road between North Block and South Block is suddenly getting narrower. A few weeks ago, the distance was so vast as to be almost unbridgeable.

Don't miss the signs: Pranab eyes Rashtrapati Bhavan

Image: Pranab Mukherjee if elected President will take over from Pratibha Patil
Photographs: Reuters

Ministers have openly begun discussing the possible candidates for a Cabinet reshuffle, which would become inevitable if a vacancy is created.

What is obvious is that Mukherjee appears to be in exit mode. On Friday, he did something he has never done in his life -- he travelled to the Delhi suburb of Noida, which has a film city, to inaugurate a music CD by Bollywood singer Kumar Sanu, who hails from West Bengal. Clearly, Mukherjee is in ribbon-cutting mode.

TOP photo features of the week


...

Tags: PHOTO , MORE , TOP
Source: source