Narayanan may be on way out as NSA

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 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.