Who's number two?

Exactly who replaced Pranab Mukherjee as number two in the Cabinet has been the topic of much Delhi conversation. At first it seemed that Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was, given that he sat next to the prime minister in the first post-Mukherjee Cabinet meeting. But Defence Minister A K Antony wasn’t around for that meeting, countered others. Then P Chidambaram was announced as taking over many of Mukherjee’s Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) responsibilities, chairing the telecom EGoM, for example, although it numbered Antony among its members. (Pawar had earlier recused himself) It seemed that Antony was being sidelined — till news emerged that the EGoM, chaired by Chidambaram or not, had met in Antony’s defence ministry. This is in spite of the fact that Chidambaram’s home ministry has a far nicer meeting room. It seems it was arranged thus to underline that Antony is the PM’s chosen number two, as conveyed to the Cabinet Secretariat.