Newsmaker: Naveen Chawla

Finally, he makes it to the helm

Naveen Chawla

Seldom does an election commissioner find himself in the eye of controversy. That is exactly where Naveen Chawla, a 1969 batch IAS officer, found himself when it came to light that Congressmen, including some chief ministers, had donated freely from their MP local area development funds to two trusts run by his family.

Chawla first came in the limelight in the mid-1970s after he met Sanjay Gandhi. Chawla was the sub-divisional magistrate in Delhi, when Sanjay Gandhi wed Maneka Anand in 1974 at a civil ceremony held at Mohammad Yunus' residence.

Their association began on that day and continued through the Emergency, when Chawla was secretary to the Lt governor of Delhi Kishan Chand, who later committed suicide.

According to accounts given in the Shah Commission report, probing the Emergency, Chawla made no secret of his closeness to Gandhi, which led special secretary (home) S Chandra to clarify in her testimony that "whenever Chawla referred to higher ups, I assumed that the orders were from the minister of state home affairs or the PM's house "" the prime minister herself or Sanjay Gandhi."

Chawla, along with Vidya Charan Shukla, Ambika Soni, Jagmohan, Rukhsana Sultana and Jagdish Tytler, was a part of Gandhi's inner circle. But once the Emergency got over, Chawla found himself in the Andamans -- he belonged to the Union Territory cadre.

He spent some time writing a biography of Mother Teresa, whom he met in 1975. He also opened the two trusts that are now in the eye of the storm.

Most Gandhi acolytes had to reinvent themselves after his death. While Ambika Soni spent time in the Congress (S) with Sharad Pawar, V C Shukla flirted with one political group or another. Rukhsana Sultana became a star mother to her daughter Amrita Singh, and Jagmohan and Maneka Gandhi went full circle, joining the BJP, whose leaders they had imprisoned in 1975.

For Chawla, that reinvenetion came when his wife Rupika met Sonia Gandhi at an art restoration course at the National Museum. Aesthetically gifted, Rupika Chawla and Sonia Gandhi became close close in a completely non-political way.

During the Narasimha Rao period, when Sonia would meet very few people, Rupika Chawla was one of the chosen few.

Chawla, meanwhile went from one posting to other -- from Delhi Vidyut Board chairman to special secretary to the ministry of environment and forests, UPSC secretary and consumer affairs secretary. His charity work continued apace even under the NDA regime.

But the current controversy could well be the biggest challenge of his career. In his defence, Chawla said the money reached the trusts before he became the election commissioner and that he was planning to retire even before the high profile job was offered to him.