Capital Buzz: Will this be the first order Ramnath Kovind passes if he becomes President of India?

Ramnath Kovind the BJP nominee for President is said to have been actively involved in requesting the enhancement of the monthly pension offered to former governors. Kovind used to raise this subject in the Governors Conferences always. Kovind wanted the pension be raised to Rs 75,000 per month from Rs 50,000.

Many sitting Governors and close to 128 former Governors have expressed support to Ramnath Kovind'S demand when he was the Governor of Bihar. Kovind may have presumed that after retirement his pension will also be enchanced and so fought for this cause. Just before Kovind was picked up for the position of President of India, as Governor of Bihar, Kovind had pleaded with E S L Narasimhan, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, by asking him to push for the cause and also forward the former Governor’s petitions.

Why Kovind wrote to ESL Narasimhan? There is a story behind it. ESL Narasimhan, as senior most Governor, was being appointed as the Doyen of Governors at many Governor’s Conferences. The Doyen presides over the Governors Conference two hours before the arrival of President of India. For all Governors Conferences, it is President Pranab Mukherjee who used to Chair the session.

Kovind encouraged the idea that ESL Narasimhan alone can speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi being the Doyen of Governors and Narasimhan was also considered to be close to Prime Minister as for three years ESL wore the hat of Director of Intelligence Bureau (IB)

Political buzz in New Delhi is that on the day of the announcement of Ramnath Kovind as BJP candidate for President post, ESL called up Kovind and greeted him. Narasimhan also quietly slipped in the main subject of former Governors pension issue to him, and insisted then when he became President of India he should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accept the Governors Conference recommendation to enhance the pension of the former Governors. 

Kovind being soft-spoken and stickler for rules is also a good public relations person. From Patna Raj Bhavan, Kovind used to send mangoes and Litchi packs as seasonal greetings to fellow Governors in various state capitals. We wonder, now that the ball might soon be in Kovind’s court, will he bat for the Governors?

 

How Uma Bharati managed to ‘trick’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi into having it her way

Two union ministers – Sushma Swaraj, minister for External Affairs and Uma Bharti, minister  for Water Resources, enjoy a comfortable equation with the Prime Minister. Some even say he has a soft corner for the both of them.

During one political dinner being held in the capital, a particularly humourous tale was doing the rounds. Political grapevine is abuzz with it. Modi will be making his first visit as Prime Minister to Isreal in July. Prior to that many senior Union Ministers went to Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel

to lay the groundwork for the meet and also to finalise ministry-level joint agreements and memorandums.

Six  union ministers from the Modi government were chosen to visit Israel. The sixth was Uma Bharti, Union Minister of Water Resources. Interestingly, Uma Bharti is the only one Union Minister who is scared of flying in airplanes. Uma Bharti has always preferred travel by road or rail and she seldom travels by air.

Uma Bharti told the Prime Minister Office that they could depute the Secretary to the Government of India Ministry of Water Resources to go on the trip. However, the PMO insisted that since it was a ministerial level delegation, Uma Bharti should lead it.

The date was fixed, flights were booked, boarding cards obtained and even the minister’s four large trunks of luggage accommodated in the cargo hold. Three officials and two state Government Ministers were about to board the airplane, while Uma Bharti sat in her car at the airport. Suddenly she told her driver to rush to AIMS Hospital as she was having difficulty in breathing, and got herself admitted to the ICU. 

Her Israel visit was cancelled. Was she really unwell?  Was it a drama? Was she avoiding travelling by flight? Was the Prime Minister angry over this last minute turnaround? We are yet to know, but many in the Dinner circuit were trying to control their laughter.

 

Why is Pranab Mukherjee cancelling meetings now? Has he truly become a lame duck President?

Pranab Mukherjee has slowed down his official visits and has even begun to cancel few of them. The President’s visit to Hyderabad was put on hold owing to unavoidable reasons. Pranab da was to have been in Hyderabad on June 23, Friday. Similarly, three of his visits in July were also cancelled. Buzz is that Pranab da is a stickler for rules and does not want to embarrass the incumbent or the present BJP Union Government for having announced the BJP nominee for as Pranab’s successor.

So he wants to spend time in New Delhi and that too inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Pranab da feels that he has become a lame duck President. But most interesting is that he had hosted a lunch for RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, and he has regularly been inviting senior political leaders either for dinner or for lunch. The list is getting longer - for an entire bench of the Supreme Court, say 29 Supreme Court judges will have dinner with the President in July. So will all the UPSC members Since he is the Supreme Commander of Armed Forces, the President is also hosting a grand dinner for the three Chiefs of the armed forces, Navy, Army and Air Force, with their spouses.

Recently, the President also hosted a Tea for Editors Guild. He met 250 senior media persons when he hosted a farewell for his Press Secretary Venu Rajamony. The President’s family has already started vacating the premises and have moved into 10 Rajaji Marg, the former residence of Ram Nath Kovind.

(R Rajagopalan is a senior journalist based in Delhi. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect those of Asianet Newsable.)