‘‘Surjeet is a practical man. He applied the ‘march separately, but strike together’ approach of Mao in the Indian context—first in ending the monopoly of the Congress and then in stopping the ride of the BJP,’’ says CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury.

Surjeet has been an enigma of sorts—a clever practitioner of power politics who managed to retain his air of aloofness.

In 1989, Devi Lal invited Surjeet, a fellow Jat, to contest from a ‘safe seat’ but got no for an answer. Clearly, Surjeet had enough power without being in power. For instance, in the 1990s, during a party drive to help Cuba, the rice collected was not enough to fill the ship that was to carry it to Cuba. Surjeet stepped in and made a few phone calls. That did the trick. After his party collected money for medicines to send to Cuba in the mid-’90s, Surjeet procured the drugs from his friends among manufacturers at hugely subsidised prices. And when thousands of people who landed in Delhi for CPI(M) processions would knock at his doors for shelter, Surjeet usually made a few phone calls and got all gurdwaras in the city opened for them.

Pragmatism is a quality that Surjeet doesn’t lack. In 1996, when regional parties proposed Jyoti Basu’s name for Prime Minister, Surjeet supported the move. But when the party rejected it, Surjeet suggested H D Deve Gowda’s name. When I.K. Gujral replaced Gowda, it was against Surjeet’s formula, which favoured Mulayam. The formula, however, settled the war over portfolio allocation. All problems reached his table and nobody has a complaint against the way he resolved it. ‘‘Regional parties have a lot of contradictions, but Surjeet managed to bring them on a common platform,’’ says Yechury.

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