UPA's busiest minister

BACKSTAGE

Access to Room 13 of Parliament House is never a problem for reporters. But on August 30, the front doors of Room 13 were shut throughout the day. Mukherjee, alongwith other party managers like Ahmed Patel, A K Antony and CPI(M)'s interlocutor Sitaram Yechuri, constantly used the back door. The two sides were arguing to agree on a small piece of text to announce the formation of the UPA-Left Committee on the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement.

The crisis was not today, not a month later, it was now. The Left parties had made it clear to the government that they had deep suspicions of the Hyde Act passed by the US Congress "" in their view this was a way to manipulate India's foreign policy. It was Pranab Mukherjee's task to convince them it was not. The UPA-Left committee was one way of doing this. This was Mukherjee's idea, born out of long years in government. Everyone knows the dictum: when in doubt, form a committee.

On August 23, after Karat conveyed the CPI(M) Central Committee's decision "" that the government would not be permitted to move an inch on the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement "" an emergency meeting of the Congress core committee was convened by Sonia Gandhi. She assigned the problem to Mukherjee. At this meeting, Mukherjee gave his reading of the situation: that the nuclear deal was a sovereign agreement between two countries, not between one government and another. Therefore, it had to be respected. On the other hand, as the Left was supporting the UPA, it needed to be taken into confidence. Forming a committee might sort out the problem, he suggested.

But the committee only bought time, it didn't change anyone's mind. As the proceedings wound down, the Left now wanted a written assurance that India would not go for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) negotiations. Congress bosses ruled out any written commitment. And once again it was to Mukherjee that the task of producing a mutually agreeable text was handed. After a few hours, a 100-word formulation read: "The operationalisation of the deal will take into account the Committee's findings". This saved the government from immediate collapse.

This called for behind-the-scenes hard work. Mukherjee didn't spare a single opportunity to meet Basu and other CPI(M) leaders to convince them. Last month he was in Kolkata for a brief tour to attend a programme on Indo-Vietnam friendship. During the tea break, Mukherjee found 15 minutes to have a quick closed-door chat with Basu and Bhattacharya. Later, he again met the two leaders at Basu's residence. When the crisis was at its height, Basu called up Karat in the presence of Mukherjee and asked him to sit with Mukherjee in Delhi. A one-on-one meeting with Prakash Karat on the nuclear deal took place in September at midnight. Again, just before the pujas in October, they had an unpublicised meeting for over 45 minutes.

So with all this exertion, what chances does the quintessential backroom boy of the government see for the longevity of the UPA Government? All he will say is: "This is one of the most challenging jobs of my career. But I am always optimistic."