Cong foreign policy keys with Pranab

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has emerged as the Congress’ pointman for international affairs now that the Volcker report has made ...

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Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has emerged as the Congress’ pointman for international affairs now that the Volcker report has made Natwar Singh persona non grata. This has given rise to speculation that he may eventually take Singh’s place as Foreign Minister.

Sonia Gandhi has named Mukherjee as convener of the committee set up for drafting the AICC resolution on international affairs for the party’s 82nd plenary session, scheduled for January 21-23 in Hyderabad. This has been Singh’s domain for years.

As a corollary to Singh’s ouster from the ministry as well as the Congress steering committee, his name is missing from all panels that Sonia set up today. It is to be seen if she extends this purge to the Nehru-Gandhi trusts, where Natwar is a perennial fixture.

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Mukherjee, who has acquired expertise in formulating all party documents, stays as convener of the drafting committee. Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh remains convener of the panel which will prepare the crucial political resolution. For the HRD Minister, who has consistently tried to position himself as the Congress’ ideologue, the move fuels the hope that he may have a longer innings.

Singh’s Rajya Sabha term expires in a few months and there is no way he can be re-elected from his home state Madhya Pradesh as the Congress does not have enough numbers in the Assembly to win a seat in the biennial polls.

There is also a setback for high-profile Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh, the brain behind the all-powerful policy-making National Advisory Council which Sonia heads. For not only has Sonia denied him the chance to pilot the resolution on economic affairs, she has also placed him last in the pecking order as a member of the panel for resolution on economic affairs constituted under former Karnataka chief minister Veerappa Moily.

Vayalar Ravi, who was earlier dropped as general secretary, is back in favour — he figures in the main drafting committee as well as the panel on economic resolution.

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Veteran leader Balasaheb Vikhe Patil presides over the panel which will draft resolutions on agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation.