However, Sonia's views at the time indicated the kind of disagreements which might arise between her and the prime minister in future. These have now come to the fore to give the impression that the two are no longer on the same page. Although there hasn't been any open discord till now, the manner in which smaller fry like Digvijay Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Keshava Rao and others have been speaking suggests that it may not be possible to ignore the differences at the top for too long.

The reason is that an essential component of the disharmony is ideological. While Sonia is inclined to be left-of-centre to the extent that she expressed support for her mother-in-law's bank nationalization plank of 1969-70 in the context of the recent recession, Manmohan Singh is in favour of what the Left describes as neo-liberalism Apart from the socialistic instincts which Sonia has evidently picked up from Indira - perhaps without realizing that the latter's purported socialism was an exercise in cynicism - she has also imbibed another disagreeable trait - the penchant for sticking to power at all costs.

This tendency was noticeable when she sided with the communists in their resistance to the nuclear deal apparently in the belief that a rupture with them will endanger the government. But for the Samajwadi Party switching sides at that crucial juncture, the government would have undoubtedly been in considerable trouble. But what her attitude showed was that she was willing to save the government even if it meant denying India the previously unthinkable opportunity to join the nuclear powers without signing the NPT. She also did not seem to have taken into account the unfavourable consequences of following such an overtly anti-American line at a time of China's increasing assertiveness.

The same reluctance to look ahead is again evident from her preference for the caste census. She has pushed the government into accepting this highly retrogressive step simply to keep the Mandal group comprising Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav and possibly also Sharad Yadav on the Congress's side so that, first, the government will be reasonably safe and, secondly, to woo the OBC votes.

But she appears oblivious of the Pandora's box which the caste census will open with the entire social structure experiencing an upheaval because of the rearrangement of the numerical data relating to the various castes. And this, in turn, will boost the other regressive feature of caste-based politics - the demand for reservations in the education sector and for government jobs and, also ultimately, for quotas in the private sector.

That Sonia's earlier anti-American and the present pro-OBC attitudes do not enjoy the prime minister's blessings is obvious. Manmohan Singh vainly tried to stall the caste census by saying that it will be considered later, but Sonia turned to the ever faithful Pranab Mukherjee to implement her plans. But this is not the only point of difference between the party chief and the prime minister. She has also packed the National Advisory Council under her with Left-leaning members to put pressure on the government to deviate from its market mantra.

If the Left was seen to be an obstacle to the government's economic reforms in UPA-I, the NAC is playing the same obstructive role in UPA-II. Hence, the perception that the government is unable to pursue the reforms as effectively as may have been expected to do in the Left's absence. As may have been expected, this ideological tussle is being used by scheming individuals to score personal points.

Thus, we are witnessing the almost daily spectacle of Digvijay Singh carping at P. Chidambaram, Mani Shankar Aiyar berating the government for focussing on the stock market instead of on the poor and Keshava Rao criticizing Kapil Sibal more effectively than any opposition member in the Rajya Sabha. But the fact that they know on which side their bread is buttered could be seen from the care with which Digvijay Singh avoided commenting on Warren Anderson's “escape” from India lest it implicated Rajiv Gandhi. So, he said that it was more important to focus on the sufferings of the Bhopal victims.

By leaning towards the left of the political spectrum, Sonia is obviously trying to reach out to the poor as well as the Dalits and minorities in the hope of replicating Indira's garibi hatao tactics. But she seems to have overlooked the fact that India of today is not the India of the late 1960s and early '70s when the middle class was small in size. Now, its numbers are in the region of 400 million and their preference will be more for Manmohan Singh's reforms than for the “perpetuation of poverty”, which, the prime minister fears, may be the result of the NAC's initiatives. (IPA Service)