9 May 2002
FAROOQ ABDULLAH AS NEW FOREIGN
MINISTER?
From Jal Khambata
NEW DELHI:
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah may shift to the
Centre as the country's new External Affairs Minister in place of
Jaswant Singh tipped to replace Yashwant Sinha as the new Finance
Minister.
Speculation is rife that the ruling Bhartiya Janata
Party (BJP) has approached Dr Farooq Abdullah to join the Vajpayee
Ministry so as to relieve his son Omar Abdullah, Minister of State
for External Affairs, to take the reins of the state in his place.
Omar is to take over as the chief of the National Conference later
this month.
Dr Farooq Abdullah was aiming at the posts of
either President or Vice-President of India but he has been told that
he would be welcome to join the Ministry. His reaction to the BJP's
offer is not known.
In any case, Dr Farooq Abdullah has one
full month to decide as the Cabinet reshuffle is billed to take place
only in June after the Prime Minister returns from his 5-day foreign
tour of Turkey and Kazakistan on June 4.
President K R
Narayanan has already proceeded on holiday to Kottakal in Kerala for
his kidney treatment in the famous Ayurvedic Vedhshala there and he
will be back in Delhi only on May 22, two days after Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee had proceeded to Manali holiday resort for a
10-day sojourn there.
Vajpayee will be returning to Delhi from
Manali only on May 30 and the next day he will be flying off on a
five-day foreign tour and hence the reshuffle of the Cabinet is not
expected before the second week of June. END