Why Vijay Gokhale isn’t pleased with IFS senior S Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his IFS junior Vijay Gokhale, who succeeded him as foreign secretary, don’t seem to share the best equation.
Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officers posted in the capital complain that they often get conflicting messages from the two, with the minister obviously getting his way.
Grapevine has it that Gokhale, a 1981-batch IFS officer, had grown close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 16 months that Jaishankar stayed away from the government—Jaishankar joined the Tata Group for a 16-month stint after his retirement in January 2018.
He had struck a good rapport with the Prime Minister after the Balakot airstrikes, amid rising tensions with Pakistan.
Many say it was because of Gokhale that India was able to garner support from as many as 58 countries as it sought to corner Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack.
Since Jaishankar’s return to South Block this May, however, things have changed for Gokhale. Jaishankar, a 1977-batch IFS officer, was also close to the PM through his three-year stint as foreign secretary, even rendering the then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj virtually irrelevant in foreign policy matters. Gokhale is feeling the pinch now as his interactions with Modi have drastically gone down.
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The minister in charge of all food in Parliament
The portfolios Union minister Piyush Goyal has in the second term of the Narendra Modi government have put him in a unique position. Besides the Ministry of Railways, which he also held in the first term, Goyal now also has the commerce and industry portfolio.
This means all three catering services in Parliament now come under him. The three entities that cater at Parliament are the coffee board, the tea board and the railways. While the first two are within the purview of the Commerce and Industry Ministry, the third is overseen by the Railway Ministry.
Why Ram Naik told Modi about his yoga routine and solid memory
Come next month, Ram Naik’s five-year term as Uttar Pradesh Governor will expire, but the 85-year-old politician is reportedly not yet ready to hang up his boots.
On a trip to Delhi this week, he met the President and Vice-President to brief them about his achievements. In fact, throughout his gubernatorial tenure, Naik prepared annual report cards and regularly submitted them to the President.
While in Delhi, he also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked him for giving him the opportunity to serve as governor. He is said to have also informed the PM about his impeccable memory and the secret behind his fitness, narrating in detail how he performs yoga every morning. While describing his physical health, Naik did not forget to drop hints about his ability and willingness to continue serving the party. Though the PM was all ears, he didn’t respond to Naik’s explicit desire for a continued stint in politics.
(Contributors: Ruhi Tewari & Shanker Arnimesh)
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