Pulak Chatterjee’s appointment as chief secretary is being seen as a preparation for crowing Rahul Gandhi as the leader. Rahul wants to wait till the results from UP elections are out but the party is in a hurry. The party and Sonia believe that the results from UP elections might lead to a loss of morale for the party and the time may not be right to crown Rahul baba. As far as Pulak is concerned, he is the prime minister’s chief secretary for sure, but he doesn’t have the status of a central state minister because according to seniority, the present Cabinet secretary is senior to Pulak. When he retires in April 2012, it will make Pulak the senior-most. Which means that period might be a golden one for Pulak.