In PMO reshuffle,Narayanan is out,Menon set to be in

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set in motion the process to completely revamp his office with the decision to move National Security Advisor M K Narayanan out of the PMO....

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set in motion the process to completely revamp his office with the decision to move National Security Advisor M K Narayanan out of the PMO. Narayanan is now slated to take over as Governor of West Bengal.

This paves the way for a diplomat to take over as the next NSA which means that the entire intelligence and internal security apparatus that Narayanan presided over for the last five years will no more remain under the direct control of the PMO. Already,in practice,the heads of the Intelligence Bureau and the Research & Analysis Wing have been reporting to the Home Minister ever since P Chidambaram took over.

Former Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon remains the PMs choice for the next NSAs job but a final call will be taken after some more consultation. Its learnt that the PM has been quite keen on bringing Menon into the PMO and despite the political backlash after the Sharm-el-Sheikh joint statement between India and Pakistan,the former FS has been kept in the loop on key diplomatic issues.

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Menons entry will allow Singh to refocus the NSAs role as the countrys top diplomat and bring a fresh approach to the neighbourhood. The PM is eager to be more innovative when it comes to dealing with Pakistan and China. But a final decision on the next NSA could take a few more days.

Besides this,Principal Secretary to PM T K A Nair too could be reconsidered in another bureaucratic reshuffle in the next couple of months. Its learnt that Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar has emerged as the frontrunner. Both Narayanan and Nair had been given a one-year tenure after the second UPA government was formed.

As for the next set of Governors,the other changes being considered are moving Jharkhand Governor K Sankaranarayanan to Maharashtra,former Home Minister Shivraj Patil to Punjab,Himachal Pradesh Governor Prabha Rau to Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh Governor ESL Narasimhan permanently to Andhra Pradesh.

Other names under consideration are M O H Farooq,former Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia,Urmilaben Patel,wife of former Gujarat CM Chimanbhai Patel,Congress general secretary Mohsina Kidwai and former Minister Santosh Mohan Dev.

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After a meeting of the Congress Core Group at the PM House on Friday evening,Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were said to have held a separate meeting to discuss potential candidates for vacancies in Raj Bhawans. Singh and Chidambaram were slated to meet later to finalise the names of Governors.

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