When Narasimha Rao took over after the elections, Mukherjee was in for another disappointment. He did not get a cabinet post. But he wasn’t about to make the mistake of sulking and took up the offer to become deputy chairman of the planning commission. Two years later, he was made the commerce minister and in 1995 elevated to the minister for external affairs. But he continued as deputy chairman at Yojana Bhavan — adept at handling more than one tough job, a talent that has been put to full use by the UPA government over the last two years.

But if Mukherjee, unlike say Arjun Singh, has never chosen to revolt or intrigue against his party leader or the prime minister, neither has he managed to acquire the qualities of unquestioning sycophancy - a la Shivraj Patil — that pays dividends in every organisation, and most certainly in the Congress party. When the Congress was in wilderness, Mukherjee busied himself with formulating policies and strategy — refusing to accept that the coalition era had come to stay and still certain of a Congress revival when others had lost hope. And when the party did come to power and Sonia Gandhi made the “apolitical” Manmohan Singh the prime minister, Mukherjee may have not been too happy — after all as finance minister he had appointed Singh RBI governor in the 1980s — but did not show it. He would have preferred becoming home minister, but within five minutes of becoming defence minister, his aides insist, he sought a meeting with the defence secretary and plunged into the new job. Manmohan Singh, on his part, soon realised that Mukherjee was an asset and not a rival and entrusted him with the chairmanship of innumerable GoMs. At one time, Mukherjee presided over 38 GOMs, which have now come down to nine. Similarly, Sonia Gandhi may have her coterie of trusted lieutenants, but Mukherjee is the “sage counsel” she turns to for advice and inputs.

... contd.