New Delhi: After five years stint as
National Security Adviser, M K Narayanan is likely to be
appointed a state Governor in the next few days when several
Raj Bhavans vacancies will be filled.
High placed sources said that Narayanan, 75, is likely
to be made Governor of a key state most probably West Bengal,
where Gopal Krishna Gandhi demitted office recently after
completing his tenure.
Ahead of the Congress Core group meeting, Congress
President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had a
separate meeting and is understood to have discussed names to
fill the vacant slots in Raj Bhavans in Rajasthan and Andhra
Pradesh.
The names of former foreign secretaries like Shyam Saran
and Shiv Shanker Menon are doing the rounds for the post of
NSA, if Narayanan, who was appointed as NSA on January 2005,
becomes a Governor.
The post of NSA was created during the Atal Bihari
Vajpayee government in 1998 and Brajesh Mishra was the first
person to occupy it.
The Raj Bhavans are likely to see fresh appointments
before January 26 so that the Governors are in place to take
the salute in the Republic Day parades in these state
capitals, the sources said.
Besides Narayanan, other names doing the rounds include
former Home Minister Shivraj Patil, former HRD Minister Arjun
Singh, Congress leaders Mohsina Kidwai, former Union Minister
Santosh Mohan Dev.
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 15, 2010, 21:50