The Honeybee Conspiracy

Untitled Part 61

Chapter 59

In the meanwhile, Anil Dubey, the Foreign Secretary had retired and Anwar Razak who had proved to be very effective in closing a number of strategic bilateral deals and spearheading discussions to strengthen Indo – US cooperation was appointed as the Foreign Secretary. The appointment had come at a very crucial stage for the Yogi government. The relations between India and the UK needed a fresh thrust especially in view of the UK opting out of the European Union and the souring of relations between India and China, especially on the Myanmar incursion. Anwar knew this was the time he had been waiting for and grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Since he had already established himself among the foreign secretaries across the globe, it had made his job much easier.

Shekar Gupta, who was incharge of the Middle East desk in the External Affairs Ministry was promoted as the No.2 in the foreign office in place of Anwar Razak. Shekar Gupta was a 1998 batch Indian Foreign Service officer who did his Master's in International Business from Stanford University, had his graduation from Delhi University where he was an active member of Indian Socialist Party's youth wing before he moved on to do his masters. There were two things in common between Shekar Gupta and Anwar Razak, both were orphans and both were self-made beaurocrats.

Shekar though had maintained a very low profile, always remaining in the shadows in the foreign office. He too was single.Anwar Razak had given the responsibility to Shekar to strengthen bilateral trade and ensure co-operation between the neighboring countries in addition to heading the Middle East Desk.

Shekar, on the other hand, had known earlier in his life that it was only a matter of time that the right-wing Socialist Party would come to power, so he had aligned himself to the party and had also built strong friendships between the leaders of the party though he remained in the background giving critical strategic advice to the leadership behind closed doors.

Now, with his elevation as the Joint Secretary and the No. 2 in the Ministry of External Affairs, he was now out of the shadows and in the limelight.

Shekar, unlike all his predecessors who generally had a flamboyant image and personality, was right the opposite. At 5ft 5, he was a short thin man with a balding head, carried a french beard which was graying and his features resembled that of a UP'ite.

But inspite of these attributes, Shekar made up by his strong analytical prowess, smooth cajoling talks to floor any opponent mixed with a hands-on no-nonsense approach in handling critical areas of bilateral relationships. And to add to that, he had the complete backing of the top leadership of the country.