Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs: Of the powerful, by the powerful

The role of the CCPA was in sharp focus during the years P V Narasimha Rao was prime minister

“It was a very exclusive body," said former Minister for External Affairs K Natwar Singh, adding for emphasis that “not everyone could be a member. But we discu­ssed everything”. He was referr­ing to the Cabinet Comm­ittee on Political Affairs (CCPA). As fo­reign minister, he was a member of the coveted grouping during the early years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, led by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Singh recalls that only the defence, home, external affairs, and finance ministers were invited to be members of the CCPA during the Manmohan Singh tenure. By contrast, after the recent rejig