Maverick In Politics
Aiyar, Mani Shankar
Maverick In Politics - New Delhi Juggernaut 2024 - 411
Mani Shankar Aiyar ends his first volume of memoirs as he is elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991 at the age of 50. In this second volume, he continues his story as he becomes a three-term Member of Parliament (MP), then a cabinet minister in the UPA government (including becoming India’s first ever minister of Panchayati Raj) and finally, a Rajya Sabha member.
Most politicians conceal unflattering events in their memoirs. Aiyar is incapable of doing so. He draws a colourful picture of a life in politics, with vivid glimpses of politicians – and their policies – such as Jayalalithaa (whose party thugs nearly killed him), Sonia Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and others.
He writes perceptively of the challenges of being a good MP and why development doesn’t win a politician votes. And he tells, too, of negotiating the power struggles of the UPA era, where he was moved from the Petroleum Ministry, and turns the lens on financial improprieties and his ideological reservations as sports minister in the run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
9789353457679
Political science
Biography and autobiography
320 AIY
Maverick In Politics - New Delhi Juggernaut 2024 - 411
Mani Shankar Aiyar ends his first volume of memoirs as he is elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991 at the age of 50. In this second volume, he continues his story as he becomes a three-term Member of Parliament (MP), then a cabinet minister in the UPA government (including becoming India’s first ever minister of Panchayati Raj) and finally, a Rajya Sabha member.
Most politicians conceal unflattering events in their memoirs. Aiyar is incapable of doing so. He draws a colourful picture of a life in politics, with vivid glimpses of politicians – and their policies – such as Jayalalithaa (whose party thugs nearly killed him), Sonia Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and others.
He writes perceptively of the challenges of being a good MP and why development doesn’t win a politician votes. And he tells, too, of negotiating the power struggles of the UPA era, where he was moved from the Petroleum Ministry, and turns the lens on financial improprieties and his ideological reservations as sports minister in the run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
9789353457679
Political science
Biography and autobiography
320 AIY
