Indrajit Gupta is running the country in Deve Gowda's absence

George Iype in New Delhi

In an effort to keep his allies in the Left happy, H D Deve Gowda has entrusted Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta with the responsibility of running the country while the prime minister is on a three-day state visit to Moscow.

But Deve Gowda has also set up a core group of three senior Cabinet ministers -- Civil Aviation Minister Chand Mahal Ibrahim, Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Srikant Jena -- to handle any political issues that may crop up when the premier is away from the country.

Sources in the United Front government said despite their well-publicised differences over a number of crucial issues, Deve Gowda makes it a point to hand over all administrative matters to Gupta during his foreign visits.

Though the home minister's seniority is said to have tilted the prime minister's confidence in his favour, many see it as a move by the latter to keep the Left parties in good humour.

Gupta's Communist Party of India is the first Left party to share power in a Union government in independent India. But ever since they joined the 13-party coalition nine months ago, Gupta, a former CPI general secretary, and his party colleague, Agriculture Minister Chaturanan Mishra, have been isolated in the Cabinet on a number of crucial policy issues.

The home minister recently accused the prime minister of not consulting him when the deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh became a subject of controversy among the UF constituents.

''Giving the government's charge to the home minister is a shrewd move by the prime minister to mend fences with the CPI leader,'' a senior UF official told Rediff On The NeT.

But he said ideally the prime minister would have wished to hand over charge to External Affairs Minister Inder Kumar Gujral. Since Gujral accompanies Deve Gowda on all his foreign visits, Gupta took charge.

Gujral, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram and Commerce Minister B B Ramaiah and a large number of officials have accompanied Deve Gowda to Moscow.

Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav is said to be annoyed though that he has not been included in the prime minister's entourage despite the fact that the discussions between the two countries will largely centre around defence.

Government circles, however, said that Yadav is slated to lead a defence delegation to Russia soon after Deve Gowda returns home.

Sources said this is the first time that Deve Gowda has set up a core group to look after political matters during his absence. ''No such group had been formed during the prime minister's earlier visits to Harare, Davos or Bangladesh," an official said.

Many believe the UP developments where a Bharatiya Janata Party- Bahujan Samaj Party government was formed last week may have provided the impetus for entrusting political issues to Ibrahim, Paswan and Jena.