Set to become the Home Minister of the first Congress-led coalition government, senior leader Pranab Mukherjee eased into his anticipated role with a critique of the NDA’s security dispensation.An hour before the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan, he hinted at an upcoming review of outgoing Home Minister L.K. Advani’s policy, saying ‘‘internal-external security’’ of the country needs to be ‘‘beefed up’’. But that was not uppermost on his mind.Mukherjee insists he was not one bit surprised by the results. ‘‘I was the Pradesh Congress Committee chief in Bengal — one of the most difficult states and we were expecting eight seats. We only lost miserably in Orissa, we should done much better in UP and Rajasthan.’’Giving full credit to what he called Sonia Gandhi’s ‘‘inhuman and gruelling tour’’ across the country, he said the only serious setback was Kerala (where the Congress drew a blank for the first time since Independence), ‘‘It was simply because of Karunankaran.’’Making light of the pulls and pressures of the coalition government — a first-time for the Congress — Mukherjee said: ‘‘The fact of the matter is, Congress is not learning coalition politics, the Congress itself is a coalition politics. We have a Common Minimum Programme in place and the Congress knows how to administer the country.’’ Mukherjee points out that most of the members of the UPA too have ‘‘experience of administration’’ and who have matured in coalition politics.
