Krishna at his South Block office on Monday. (Jay Mandal/On Assignment)

Washington, May 25: In one of the most frustrating moments of his long political career, when S.M. Krishna was thwarted from becoming chief minister of Karnataka for a second time in 2004, he had asked a friend why many of his peers were undermining him.

The friend told him: “Krishna, you are the only full bright Congressman in a party made up of a huge number of half bright politicians. Naturally, they will try to pull you down.”

The reference was to the new external affairs minister’s Fulbright scholarship to study at the prestigious George Washington University in the US capital nearly half a century ago.

Krishna’s “full bright” qualities were in evidence on the day he was unexpectedly sworn in to replace another veteran in public life, Pranab Mukherjee, last week.

The very first “official” phone call that Krishna took after becoming the new boss of South Block was from the king of Bhutan, a neighbour who has stood by India through thick and thin and a country crucial to the security of the volatile Northeast.

Krishna says his first visit as external affairs minister will be to a neighbouring country, not to any flashy world capital or to a big power.

But as and when Krishna visits Washington — speculation here puts a July date — he will be an instant hit with US President Barack Obama if mindsets and attitudes that make chemistry between political leaders is anything to go by.

The reason: one of Krishna’s most treasured possessions is a letter personally signed by John F. Kennedy thanking the young Fulbright scholar from Washington for his help in Kennedy’s successful presidential election campaign in 1960.

Kennedy had a big influence on Krishna, who often reminisces about the historic US presidential election campaign 49 years ago which brought the “Camelot” to the US, the American equivalent of the legendary King Arthur’s court.

Obama was only a baby during Kennedy’s presidential years, but he acknowledges the aura of the Camelot. For this reason, and because of his years in the US, Krishna will also be a hit with Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, and Bill Clinton, the 42nd American President.

A meeting with Kennedy was the inspiration for Clinton’s successful presidential bid in later life.

Krishna, as far as South Block veterans can recall, is the first external affairs minister to have received a US education: his predecessors have either been educated in India or England.

Krishna graduated from the Southern Methodist University in Texas before undertaking further studies as a Fulbright scholar in Washington.

Leaders outside the Anglo-Saxon sphere of influence are usually handicapped in discussing sports and hobbies with their Indian counterparts, because the latter, more often than not, can only talk about cricket.

Krishna’s passion is tennis. For the oldest member of the new cabinet — at 77, Krishna is four months older than the Prime Minister — he is perfectly at home eating strawberries and cream in Wimbledon. He attended the last Australian Open, too.

Last week, when the call to his residence in Bangalore came from New Delhi inviting him to be sworn in as a cabinet minister, Krishna was actually on another phone negotiating the time with his regular tennis partner for the next day’s game.

In fact, in 1983, when Indira Gandhi invited him to be a minister at the Centre for the first time, her aide, Makhan Lal Fotedar, could not find him. Krishna had gone to Hyderabad for a tennis match.

In the interest of political correctness and to live down Krishna’s elitist image in the years of garibi hatao, his supporters later put out a version that he was actually in Tirupati when he could not immediately answer Indira Gandhi’s summons.

While Krishna met Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh regularly while he was in New Delhi as a Rajya Sabha MP since June last year, he had no patience for the gatekeepers of 10 Janpath, the Congress president’s home, or for 7 Race Course Road, the prime ministerial residence.

In Chanakyapuri, where foreign diplomats are putting Krishna right now under the microscope, many ambassadors will cable their capitals the dignity of the new external affairs minister who was far away in Bangalore playing tennis when other, more senior, Congressmen were lobbying with these very gatekeepers for a place in the cabinet.