Nripendra Mishra's connections helped in passing TRAI Bill; Congress isolated

NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Telecom Regulatory Authority Ordinance, enabling Nripendra Mishra to continue as principal secretary to Narendra Modi, but also leaving Congress party isolated in its opposition to the move.

The isolation has been not just because of the comfort of government numbers, but a combination of political manoeuvering and Mishra’s own goodwill with senior political leaders from Uttar Pradesh like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati.

Mishra, is a 1967-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre who retired in 2009, but has deep roots in his cadre state. Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav recalled to senior BJP ministers the fact that Mishra’s first posting as district collector was to Etawah, the home town of the Yadav clan.

A senior SP leader told ET that “netaji” or Mulayam Singh Yadav held Mishra in high esteem, with the latter having served Yadav as principal secretary when he was chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Mishra had also served under former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh (then heading a BJP-led government) as principal secretary as well as Mayawati of the BSP in some other capacity.

“Mishraji’s as an officer was well thought of by behenji and it didn’t take much to persuade us to support the TRAI ordinance,” said a senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP. Both these parties also welcomed the prospect of a familiar face in the Narendra Modi PMO, a somewhat alien place for most senior political leaders in Delhi. “The rest of them have been supplanted from Gujarat,” said one BSP MP ruefully.

The Trinamool Congress had already decided to support the Ordinance and did so in both Houses, after first promising to support the Congress’ position. Senior government managers convinced Mamata Banerjee that going with the opposition on this would not yield much result. “We found both the AIADMK and the TMC inimical to us but not willing to strike just yet. It suited us,” said a senior government floor manager.

Moving the Bill, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the focus of the measure was to remove “a palpable anomaly” as the existing law provided that a former TRAI Chairman could take up private job two years after retirement but not a government job ever in his life.

Other regulatory bodies like Competition Commission, Airports Economic Regulatory Authority and SEBI do not have such provision, he said, adding the government decided to amend the law to bring parity among all regulatory bodies.