Uncertainty in babudom

By M H Ahssan

The bureaucracy is waiting as impatiently as the political class for D-day on May 16 when the results of the elections will finally be out. Apart from sharing the same curiousity as the rest of us about the personalities that will move into Delhi's power corridors, babus are anxious for another reason. All the top jobs in the bureaucracy are falling vacant at around the same time as the next governmentassumes officeand everyone is watching to see who bags what post. Here's a checklist. Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar retires in June. Defence secretary Vijay Singh and foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon bow out in July. Home secretary Madhukar Gupta is already on extension in deference to the model code of conduct and will go in June.

Finance secretary Arun Ramanathan demitted office on April 30 and Ashok Chawla has been asked to hold charge temporarily. An incoming government usually has to go through the unpleasant process of removing babus appointed by the previous regime to make way for officers of its choice.This time, attrition will make it easy. It looks as if Manmohan Singh deliberately chose his top bureaucrats in such a way that their tenure became co-terminus with his.

A clean sweep of this kind has rarely happened in the past. Bureaucrats are naturally nervous about what's in store for them. This time, political turbulence may be matched by turmoil in our famed ``steel frame'', a term used by Rajiv Gandhi's favourite babu Gopi Arora to describe the bureuacracy. Government officials are used to lobbying for plum posts but with so much uncertainty clouding the complexion and character of the next ruling establishment, they don't know which party or formation to network with. They have even stopped speculating with names of possible successors for the incumbents. Everything depends on who rules. If it's Manmohan Singh again, the bureaucracy will breathe easy because of familiarity. If it's L K Advani, he has already created a small coterie of advisors picked from among retiredofficers. If it's Mayawati, the UP cadre will get a big boost. If it's Nitish Kumar, then the Bihar cadre will be on top. But if the next government decides to go strictly by seniority, then the Mallu lobby, as the babus from Kerala are called, will rule the roost.

The four seniormost officers awaiting posting are all from this small south Indian state that acquired disproportionate power in the Manmohan Singh government because of National Security Advisor M K Narayanan's influence in the PMO. Interestingly, among them is a power couple, Sudha and Gopal Krishna Pillai. Others are T Nanda Kumar and for foreign secretary, Nirupama Rao, presently our ambassador to China. There's plenty of chatter about the group of four because there's a distinct possibility that CPI(M)'sKeralite general secretary Prakash Karat is looming on the horizon as kingmaker. When babus start connecting the dots, they can create a picture out of nothing.

Tailpiece
Arjun Singh may not have openly backed daughter Veena Singh who stood as an independent candidate for the Sidhi Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh but he has lashed out at a loyalist for daring to campaign for Veena's Congress rival. The gentleman in question, Mahendra Singh Chauhan, was summarily sacked last week from his post as head of the HRD ministry-funded Technical Teachers Training Institute in Bhopal. Singh was particularly upset because Chauhan has been a loyalist for ages and was rewarded for his devotion with the TTTI post. Can't bite the hand that feeds, especially when it hurts a favourite daughter.