New Delhi: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's close associates say that he wants to be seen as a professional.
That’s one reason why he prefers to work out of his office, unlike his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who used to work mostly from his 7 Race Course road residence.
Says Sanjaya Baru, PM's media advisor, "When I told his daughter to ask him to take a holiday as he has been working for 2 years without a break, she said, he had been working without a break for the last 50 years."
So is the Prime Minister then overworked? To ensure that he doesn't get fatigued, the PM's office sees a well marked-out division of labour.
T K Nair is the PM's Principal Advisor and is the man who advises him on all political matters. M K Narayanan is his Principal Security Advisor and does all the background work on strategic affairs.
This is a stark contrast to Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure, where Brajesh Mishra used to perform both these tasks and thereby emerged as a power centre within the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
The PMO has also become a place where setting up of Group Of Ministers (GOMs) has become a norm.
From airport privatisation to the quota debate, all controversial issues are referred to GOMs.
Says Union Minister Kapil Sibal, "These committees and GOMs lead to consensus."
If this PMO is accused of having the largest number of committees and GOMs, then as his spin-doctors point out, it is because the PM has successfully institutionalised the functioning of a coalition government.
This means that all these committees and GOMs are actually a way of getting all the coalition partners involved in the decision-making process.
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