A good politician never retires. Barely three months after he bid goodbye to Rashtrapati Bhavan, Pranab Mukherjee is in the limelight again. The reason for his renewed activity is the release of the third volume of his autobiography.

Entitled The Coalition Years, it focuses in detail on the ten years of UPA rule in which Mukherjee was a major mover and shaker. Interestingly, now that Mukherjee is not bound by the restrictions of holding office, he has been quite frank on many issues that are potentially embarrassing to both the party to which he once belonged, the Congress, as well as the party in power today, the BJP. For instance, he has candidly admitted that he nursed ambitions to be the prime minister and was disappointed when he was overlooked.

He is also critical of the obstructionist role of the BJP on the issues which became controversies at that time, like the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, the MNREGA scheme, Aadhaar and GST. He has documented the BJP’s opposition as well as Modi’s objections in his book. As part of the build-up for the release of the book, Mukherjee has given a lengthy interview to two prominent TV channels. He will also be chief guest at a public discussion forum hosted by a leading newspaper and then proceed to give his first post-retirement address at Aligarh Muslim University.

While the BJP and Congress have maintained a diplomatic silence on Mukherjee’s revelations, former prime minister Manmohan Singh reacted by saying the ex-president was more deserving than him to occupy the position of PM. He also said that Mukherjee is the person the Congress has always turned to for advice and suggestions. Was he hinting at a future political role for the man who wanted to be PM as the 2019 election draws closer?

Notable absentees

Notable absentees at the ceremonial send off for President Ram Nath Kovind on his first official foreign visit were Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his senior cabinet colleagues Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari. The only minister who saw the President off was foreign affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Established protocol for such occasions calls for the presence of the PM and senior cabinet ministers. While Pranab Mukherjee was President, Modi and his team always saw him off. The ceremonial farewell is held in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. It looks like Modi has decided to dispense with some of these protocol duties now that he has his own man in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Interestingly, it is not clear whether Modi called on Kovind when he returned from his recent trip to China to attend the BRICS meet. Usually, prime ministers meet the President to give a briefing on their foreign visits. Manmohan Singh followed this protocol with former President Pratibha Patil although she did not have much to contribute to the discussions. Of course, Pranab Mukherjee was in a different league altogether. His vast experience in government, his years as foreign minister in both the Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh governments and his stint as finance minister during the UPA era made him a storehouse of knowledge and wisdom. As Modi acknowledged at a function shortly before Mukherjee demitted office as President, he learned a lot from the veteran political leader.

Ivanka in Gujarat?

Speculation is rife whether Narendra Modi will host US President Donald Trump’s influential daughter Ivanka in his home state of Gujarat like he did with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last month. Ivanka will be travelling to Hyderabad next month to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit which will bring together 1500 business leaders from all over the world. She is attending the Summit on a personal invitation from Modi. With Gujarat assembly elections round the corner, political circles are wondering whether Modi will present Ivanka as a trophy in Ahmedabad to underline his position as a global leader. Modi will be meeting Trump at the forthcoming ASEAN meet in the Philippines later this month. Many believe he may use the opportunity to whisper an invitation in Trump’s ear for Ivanka to visit Gujarat while she is in India.

Ruffled feathers

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman seems to have ruffled feathers in the armed forces in the short period that she’s been in charge of this important ministry. One of her first orders to the army didn’t go down well. The order directed army personnel in Ladakh to clean up the garbage strewn by tourists visiting the area. The army is believed to have objected, saying it was not their job to clean garbage. Their task is to protect the borders. It is the responsibility of the civic administration to keep tourist spots free of garbage.

Now the defence chiefs are believed to have red flagged Sitharaman’s insistence on a daily morning briefing from them. Sitharaman has asked them to meet her every morning to help her get her teeth into her new assignment. Her diligence is commendable but many in the defence forces feel that she should not summon the chiefs for a teaching session. That can easily be done by less senior officers. The chiefs are believed to have raised the issue with the defence ministry and others. They pointed out that they have many responsibilities to attend to. A face saver compromise is that the morning meetings with the chief will continue till the end of the month. Sitharaman has been asked to taper them off after that.