PC running out of luck

Note to PMO by Pranabs ministry is another sign of rivalry at the top

Chidambaram, who took charge of the troubled Home Ministry in December 2008 in the aftermath of 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes, walked tall for a  stretch of time.

Compared to the controversial and sedate tenure of his predecessor Shivraj Patil, Chidambaram spelt out plans for bringing out systemic changes in the internal security mechanism and chalked out a  pro-active role for his ministry.

The home minister has set the ball rolling for improving sharing of intelligence between various agencies in the country. The process for setting up the National Intelligence Grid will be operational in the next 18 months, while another security structure proposed by Chidambaram—the National Counter Terrorism Centre—is yet to be placed before the Union Cabinet. It is understood that some of his colleagues in the UPA have expressed their opposition to the ambitious project. The graph of his ministry started rising up in public perception before it stopped its upward movement. Chidambaram’s attack against left wing extremism came in for criticism from within the ruling Congress. Party general secretary Digvijay Singh challenged the home minister’s “overemphasis” on armed solution and neglecting the development aspects of the Naxal issue.

The home minister had an initial good run with no major terror or Naxal activity denting his image. Chidambaram himself had said that, so far, “luck” was on his side. But then came a spate of left-extremist attacks in 2010 in Chattisgarh killing dozens of CRPF personnel and bomb blasts in Pune’s German Bakery, Varanasi and other places.  The two bomb blasts in the Delhi HC, this year, confirmed that the home minister had run out of his luck that was, thus far, strongly favouring him.

In June, this year, the Home Ministry got embroiled in a controversy over alleged bugging by the Intelligence Bureau in the offices of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, his adviser, personal secretary and two conference rooms. It was brought to light that in  September 2010, Mukherjee had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to order a secret probe into the spying act by IB in his offices.

The opposition parties then suggested that rivalries between the two ministries could be at the root of the bugging attempt in Mukherjee’s office.

The confidential note from Mukherjee’s ministry on the 2G spectrum allocation to the Prime Minister’s Office is again seen as yet another instance of intensifying political rivalry at the top.