The UPA government is activelyconsidering appointing interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir, the Gorkhaland agitation and has decided to replace its Nagaland interlocutor K. Padamanabhaiah.

Sources said former Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, who tackled the Charar-e-Sharif crisis in 1995 as Joint Secretary, is front-runner for the job of Centre’s Kashmir interlocutor, a post lying vacant since N N Vohra became Governor in June 2008. The new appointment may renew New Delhi’s political process with the separatists. The Cabinet Secretary will lead a team of Secretaries to Srinagar next month.

Former Home Secretary Padamanabhaiah, sources said, may not get an extension when his term expires. He was appointed by the Vajpayee government on July 28, 1999 and after a decade of engagement with the Naga leadership, New Delhi feels the ground situation has not changed much. Moreover, the Naga groups are also seen to be supporting other movements in the North-East.

The Muivah-Swu group was involved in trouble in the Tirap-Changlang sector of Arunachal Pradesh and found to be encouraging groups in the North Cachar hills as well as Left wing extremists.

With the Gorkha Jagaran Manch, headed by Bimal Gurung, stoking fires in the strategically important chicken neck area across the Chumbi Valley in North West Bengal — an indefinite bandh has been called — the Centre’s decision to appoint an interlocutor is expected to set the negotiation process rolling.