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In-Depth Information
links to the family's coterie told me, citing, as an example, Suman Dubey, a former journ-
alist and newspaper editor who advises Sonia as a friend on media and other matters and
plays down his proximity and insider knowledge. 'Suman is the closest outside the family
and he doesn't want anything anyway,' said my source. Ahmed Patel, her political secret-
ary, is her closest full-time adviser, running her office and acting as her gatekeeper, high-
powered political manager, and guardian of the status quo. Then there are various Congress
politicians and others who have fluctuating roles.
At a
Hindustan Times
Leadership Summit conference in October 2007 that I attended,
Sonia was asked who her advisers were and she said (twice) that she consulted 'my son, my
daughter and my son-in-law' when making key decisions. Sources wonder whether there is
someone else in addition to Patel, maybe outside India, who provides Rahul with an elder's
advice. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's veteran political leader, for example, met Rahul when
he was on a week-long visit to the city state in 2006, learning about politics and develop-
with the Left) that the party had evolved an elaborate protective culture. 'Mrs Gandhi's in-
ner circle carefully controls her access to information, and inoculates her from criticism,
while her carefully scripted public appearances protect her from making gaffes or missteps.
This has the advantage of preserving the “sanctity” of Mrs Gandhi and the dynasty, but can
also complicate her efforts to wield power.' Gandhi, the embassy report continued, deliber-
ately attempted to preserve the image of being above the fray politically, 'taking maximum
advantage of Congress culture, which prescribes that the party figurehead be surrounded
by an “inner coterie” to provide advice, and shield the leader from criticism and dissent'.
That protection, however, went too far on 4 August 2011 when a Congress party spokes-
person announced that Gandhi, then 64, had been diagnosed 'with a medical condition'. On
the advice of her doctors, she had travelled abroad and was likely to be away for 'two-three
weeks', said the spokesperson, adding that the surgery had been successful and her condi-
India should respect her family's request for privacy.
She had appointed four people to look after the party's affairs in her absence - Rahul
Gandhi, A.K. Antony, Ahmed Patel and Janardhan Dwivedi, the party spokesperson. The
naming of this group indicated that the illness was serious, as did the fact that Rahul and
Priyanka had left the country with her (even though Rahul was one of those left in charge).
Yet there was no official announcement on the nature of the illness, nor of where she
had gone, though she was widely reported to have had a cancer operation in New York's
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where she had apparently already been treated for several
Cameron, the British prime minister, who was visiting.
8
She flew with Rahul, and it was
