PMO, Foreign Office kept in dark of Nepal developments
Dated 29/4/2006
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Prime minister Manmohan Singh was kept out of King Gyanendra's sudden decision to restore democracy, since defence minister Pranab Mukherjee was managing this and directly informing Sonia Gandhi and CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury.
Mukherjee, in turn, was assisted by the special envoy, Karan Singh.
But the defence minister took control of the developments in Nepal on an hour to hour basis, after he was given charge by the Union cabinet to keep a close watch and formulate policies accordingly.
But officials said both the PMO and foreign office were kept in the dark about the goings on in Nepal, and this produced avoidable confusion before and after the king agreed to reinstate Parliament.
The PM was kept out of the situation on the demand of the CPI-M which wanted Nepal to be handled by a "senior cabinet member" but not by Manmohan Singh.
Officials said Sonia Gandhi then intervened and was briefed by both Mukherjee and national security advisor M.K.Narayanan.
The CPI-M was uncomfortable with the PM sensing he would play the same role as he did in handling the Iran issue.
The CPI-M was briefed about the Nepal situation on a regular basis, and the draft of Karan Singh's brief to King Gyanendra was also shared with the CPI-M in advance for its approval.
