Under Mishra’s successor M.K. Narayanan, the IB chief continues to report to the NSA, not the prime minister. However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seems conscious that he is missing out on getting a total picture by relying on only one source. At a function to award medals to RAW officers, Singh urged senior intelligence officers to call on him whenever they felt the need to so. But with a suspicious Narayanan likely to be offended if the prime minister is approached directly, so far no intelligence chief has taken up the offer.

Keeper of the flame

Sonia Gandhi has selected the popular, low-profile journalist Suman Dubey, who is a close family friend, to take over as secretary of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund in place of Natwar Singh, who was secretary for the last 17 years. Singh stopped attending meetings of the trust after the Volcker scandal broke, but he continues to be a lifetime trustee. JNMF has the copyrights for all Nehru’s books. It selects writings for editing and publishing and also organises the Nehru Memorial lecture.

Modi’s isolation

The Gujarat BJP rebels fighting Narendra Modi plan to form their own breakaway unit in the state. But they will have a tacit understanding with the Congress and NCP. The latter hopes to emerge as a key player in the oust-Modi campaign. Recently, the Congress’s Ahmed Patel and Sharad Pawar’s lieutenant Praful Patel met in Delhi. Both belong to the powerful Gujarati Patel community, which is spearheading the attack on Modi, dubbing him a pseudo-Hindu.

... contd.