With Hamid Ansari becoming the country’s Vice President, a career diplomat is occupying the post for the second time. The day he was nominated as the common candidate of the UPA and Left parties, it was, however, a foregone conclusion that Mr Ansari would become Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s successor. It was only a matter of going through the motions of the election since the Opposition NDA and United National Progressive Alliance had made up their mind to field their separate candidates in Najma Heptullah and Rasheed Masood.

Before he was elevated to the post of President, K R Narayanan, another career diplomat, had occupied the post of Vice President. Curiously, there are a lot of parallels in the way the two diplomats went on to become Vice President. Both were known to have had proximity to the Congress. Both of them enjoyed a stint as University Vice Chancellors – Mr Ansari at Aligarh Muslim University and the late Narayanan at Jawaharlal Nehru University. The late Narayanan was fortunate to have had a stint as India’s Ambassador in Beijing. In Ansari’s case, he was fortunate to have served as India’s Ambassador in Tehran. If Narayanan’s China connections endeared him to the Left, Mr Ansari’s prolific writings over the last two years, raising questions about the Manmohan Singh Government’s Iran policy has made him a favourite with the Left. But for the Left sponsorship, Mr Ansari, as indeed the late Narayanan, would probably not have become Vice President. 

The Manmohan Singh Government should consider itself rather lucky that it would not conduct its diplomacy through the new Vice President. But Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rehman Khan may not be as fortunate as the Prime Minister. Ever since, the UPA-Left decided to field Mr Ansari, the Congress leadership has been toying with the idea of shifting him out of his present position. The party, for all its secular beliefs, is not comfortable with the idea of having the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Upper House belonging to the minority Muslim community. So, Mr Khan would become shaky in his position as Mr Ansari makes his maiden entry to Rajya Sabha as the House’s ex-officio chairman today. Interestingly, one of his first encounters in the Upper House would be what promises to be an animated debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal. He and the Manmohan Singh Government draw comfort from the fact that the Chairman does not express his views on any issues that are debated in the House.