The Hindu – Salman Khurshid on a meeting spree

Within days of taking over, he has managed to touch base with over a dozen of his counterparts

Sandeep Dikshit

The Hindu – New Delhi, 7 November 2012. In just over 10 days after taking over as External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid has managed to touch base with over a dozen of his counterparts and a clutch of Prime Ministers, setting a much more hectic pace of interactions than his predecessor S.M. Krishna, who met his counterparts at a much more stately speed while attending multilateral conferences.

Currently in Vientiane, Laos, for the Asia Europe Mechanism, Mr. Khurshid was especially sought by the Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, who wanted to put in a word about Rome’s discomfiture over the trial in Kerala of two Italian Navy marines for allegedly killing two unarmed Indian fishermen. The External Affairs Minister, however, put the onus for deciding on the trial of the marines on the courts.

In the meeting with the Denmark Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Mr. Khurshid pressed for the extradition of alleged Purulia arms dropping case accused Kim Davy to India. Ms. Thorning-Schmidt, however, stonewalled Mr. Khurshid’s demand, proposing a re-examination of the issue and then holding talks with New Delhi.

Mr. Khurshid also met his counterparts from Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand and Hungary, besides German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who wanted an early free trade pact with the European Union. A meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni led to the two going through the bilateral relations checklist and Mr. Khurshid agreed to visit Dhaka next year for the Joint Consultative Committee meeting.

It also helped that Mr. Khurshid began his innings as External Affairs Minister with two multilateral conferences in quick succession. Like the ASEM meet, the earlier conference on Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) hosted in Gurgaon helped him meet several of his counterparts from East Africa such as Professor Samson Ongeri (Kenya), Jean-Paul Adam (Seychelles) and Pierrot Jocelyn Rajaonarivelo (Madagascar).

Having studied in India, Mr. Ongeri had explored the possibility of more training spots, while Seychelles, which has seen pirates raiding ships in its vicinity, wanted India to beef up its surveillance potential by contributing one more Dornier aircraft to its fleet.

The meeting also helped him make his introductions with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G L Peiris who had battled Colombo’s opponents at his country’s Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Council.

Back home, he will interact with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who was in Vientiane along with Mr. Khurshid. But both will sit across the table in New Delhi with a full complement of diplomats for a more structured discussion than would have been possible in Vientiane.

Though Britain is considered among the big ones in diplomacy, Mr. Khurshid is yet to formally meet the old-timers on the international circuit about whom he spoke wistfully at the IOR-ARCconference. They include Sergei Lavorv of Russia, Yang Jiechi of China, Antonio Patriota of Brazil, South Africa’s Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Ali Akbar Salehi of Iran. But he did get to speak over phone to one of them — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — who, however, will no longer be a Minister in the next U.S. administration.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/salman-khurshid-on-a-meeting-spree/article4071643.ece

The Tribune – Chidambaram back to Finance, Shinde gets Home, Moily Power

Anita Katyal, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 31. In a minor reallocation of portfolios, Home Minister P Chidambaram was today shifted to the Finance Ministry which was vacated by Pranab Mukherjee after he was declared UPA’s pesidential candidate. Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was named the new Home Minister while Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily has been given additional charge of the power portfolio.

The changes were announced this evening after President Pranab Mukherjee signed the formal notification.Today’s reallocation does not require a formal oath-taking as it is only a change of portfolios among serving ministers. A more comprehensive reshuffle is likely to take place in September.

Shinde is also expected to be appointed Lok Sabha leader in place of Pranab Mukherjee.The announcement should come by this week-end as the UPA has to name a new leader of the House before the monsoon session of Parliament commences on August 8.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had taken charge of the Finance Ministry soon after Pranab Mukherjee’s resignation but he was keen to shed the additional responsibility as he realised this crucial ministry required a full-time minister. He was particularly interested that this reallocation should take place before the monsoon session of Parliament so that the new incumbent can take care of the necessary parliamentary work related to the ministry.

The PM also made it known that he would like Chidambaram to be entrusted with this responsibility who, he believes, is best equipped to handle the current economic slow down. That the two leaders are on the same page as far their views on economic reforms are concerned was an additional factor which went in Chidambaram’s favour. It was also no secret that the Prime Minister and Mukherjee did not see eye to eye on the handling of the economy but the PM was constrained from intervening in his ministry in view of Mukherjee’s seniority.

The Fnance Mnistry is familiar territory for Chidambaram who had held the portfolio till 2008. He was moved to the Home Ministry after thae 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in place of Shivraj Patil. Chidambaram’s first stint was a roaring success as the economy during that period was booming, growth rates had risen and investor confidence was positive towards India.However, Chidambaram has a challenging task ahead. The global recession has adversely affected the Indian economy as exports have dipped, inflation is rising and the manufacturing sector stagnating.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120801/main3.htm

The Hindu – Post-Pranab UPA: looking for a Leader of the Lok Sabha, fixing the economy

The man most likely to get that job is Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde

Smita Gupta

New Delhi, 30 June 2012. Even as there is no certainty on precisely when the next Cabinet reshuffle takes place or indeed, when a new Finance Minister is appointed — it is likely to happen only after the country gets a new President and a Vice-President — a new Leader of the Lok Sabha will have to be named before the monsoon session starts in July-end.

As things stand, the man most likely to get that job is Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde: Congress sources say that of the senior leaders available in the Lower House, he fulfils best the criteria required, apart from the social message that it will send out as he is a senior Dalit leader. As far as experience goes, he has not just been a Union Minister, he has been Chief Minister of Maharashtra — earlier, as Finance Minister in the State, he presented nine successive budgets. In a fractious House, his rapport with leaders across party lines can help him play the role of Leader better, and he has a pleasant, conciliatory manner.

The only factor that can go against him, senior party leaders say, is that he has deposed before the Commission investigating the Adarsh scandal in Mumbai, even though there are no specific charges against him.

If it is not Mr. Shinde, the party will have to dip into its pool of senior Cabinet Ministers: they include Home Minister and seven-time Lok Sabha member P. Chidambaram, Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily (if the party wants to send out a message to poll-bound Karnataka), who has been Chief Minister of Karnataka, and Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath, who has been a Lok Sabha member a record eight times.

As for the other jobs the UPA’s Presidential candidate, Pranab Mukherjee, vacated, they are being gradually filled: for instance, one of the many Empowered Groups of Ministers (EGoM) that he headed — the one on Telecom Spectrum — will now be chaired by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. Gradually, in the coming days, new heads will be announced for the other EGoMs and GoMs.

Finance portfolio

As for the Finance portfolio, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken charge and, as the events of this week have demonstrated, he is paying it the special attention it needs. For the UPA government, clearly, fixing the economy will head its agenda, as its growing unpopularity has as much to do with the stain of corruption as high prices.

However, government sources say the Prime Minister is likely to relinquish the Finance portfolio ahead of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group in Tokyo slated for October this year. Till then, he will run the Ministry with the advice of Economic Advisory Council chairman C. Rangarajan and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

He may re-allocate the work now allotted to the two MoSs in the Finance Ministry, S.S. Palanimanickam, and Namo Narain Meena. B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in charge of Finance, will play a coordinating role between the PMO and the Finance Ministry. A 1987 batch IAS officer, he was Dr. Singh’s private secretary in UPA 1.

Meanwhile, the Congress was quick to rubbish the Opposition’s claims that the Prime Minister differed with the former Finance Minister on how to deal with the economy. “Such allegations are baseless,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said, responding to questions, stressing that the five issues that were referred to when economic reforms were spoken of — the Direct Tax Code, the Goods and Services Tax, the banking, insurance and pension reforms — were on course.

“The Standing Committee’s Report on the DTC is back with the government, while the government has been trying for the last three years to get a political consensus on the GST,” he said, adding: “As for the remaining three, some of them are with the Standing Committee, some with the government. A process has to be followed: it’s a work in progress.”

http://www.thehindu.com/news/article3585917.ece