Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna was a possible contender, but he has little ministerial experience at the Centre. Besides, he is not a member of either House of Parliament. In fact, with no Rajya Sabha vacancies on the anvil till 2008, it is difficult to induct veterans such as Krishna or Veerappa Moily or other ‘non-MPs’ who are keen to return to the centrestage, a senior Congress leader admitted.

Although P Chidambaram and Kamal Nath are counted among the “young” in the Grand Old Party, both are fairly senior so far as ministerial experience is concerned. In fact, both have been Union ministers much longer than, say, Arjun Singh, who spend his early career in state politics and did a stint as Governor before joining the Central government. But the Prime Minister is quite happy with Chidambaram as Finance Minister; even if he were to be shifted at some later stage, party insiders feel, it would be to a ministry that demands organisational expertise (such as Home Affairs) rather than diplomatic skills.

With foreign affairs increasingly tied up with international trade and commerce, Kamal Nath has been eyeing the slot. But he does not quite fill the “erudition and gravitas” requirement, according to party veterans. In view of the “seniority” criteria, the Prime Minister had initially sounded out Pranab Mukherjee — the minister with the maximum experience in the UPA government — for the post. But Mukherjee, reportedly, was not too keen. Besides, both the PM and Sonia Gandhi lean on Mukherjee a great deal and agreed that it was more important that the Defence Minister is on call at all times, something that would not be possible for a foreign minister.

... contd.