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FLIPSIDE
The
Coterie Watch
By
Dilip Bobb
 They
have the most coveted job in journalism: the Coterie Watch. As the worst
kept secret in politics, or the best kept depending on who you're talking
to, it involves days spent tracking down leads, painstaking analysis,
hours of surveillance outside 10 Janpath pretending to be as invisible
as their quarry. They are called the Coterie Watchers Club (CWC) and here's
how their latest meeting went.
Ist CWC
Member: I finally did it! I think I have spotted them at last. I had
my binoculars trained on Sonia Gandhi during the presidential vote and
I would swear I saw their shadows behind her. It must have been them.
The shadows looked very sinister. My editor will be pleased.
2nd CWC
Member: Read the front page of my paper tomorrow. I have the scoop
of the century. An in-depth interview with a key member of the coterie.
Now I can ask for that posting to Washington.
3rd CWC
Member: What did he say?
2nd CWC
Member: He denied it, of course. But that's just a clumsy attempt
to give me the impression that there's no story. Or no coterie. After
so many years as a CWC member, I can tell a coterie member from the rest
of the Congress leaders.
3rd CWC
Member: How?
2nd CWC
Member: Well, they're always issuing denials. They are also always
lurking in the background. If there's a group of Congress netas, look
for the ones who are not there. They must be inside, huddled together
with Sonia, plotting their next move. That's how you verify their identities.
By looking for the absentees.
2nd CWC
Member: It was much easier in Indira Gandhi's days. The coterie was
easily identifiable then.
3rd CWC
Member: Forgive my ignorance, I'm new here. Who was it?
Ist CWC
Member: Her private secretary, Arjun Singh, Pranab Mukherjee ... they
were different from the present lot ...
2nd CWC
Member: Yes, times have changed. It's so difficult to identify them
now, specially when they are around Sonia Gandhi.
3rd CWC
Member: Why is that?
2nd CWC
Member: Because they are all prostrate and their heads are bowed.
You can't see their faces anymore.
3rd CWC
Member: But why don't you ask your sources in the Congress.
Ist CWC
Member: We have.
3rd CWC
Member: What do they say?
2nd CWC
Member: Sonia is the undisputed leader. She is the only one who can
save the party.
1st CWC
Member: They are all petrified of the coterie.
3rd CWC
Member: Surely you must have some idea of who they are?
Ist CWC
Member: Hard to tell when Sonia is so invisible herself. Not like
the old days when there was Arjun, Pranab ...
3rd CWC
Member: It seems to me there's a foolproof way.
1st CWC
Member: What's that?
3rd CWC
Member: Ask Jitendra Prasada. Or Sharad Pawar. They'll tell you who
they are.
2nd CWC
Member: By George, that's ingenious.
1st CWC
Member: Not George. He'll deny it. Anyway, Jitendra has no credibility.
Who'll believe anything he says? Not my editor. He wants more reliable
sources.
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