Thursday, January 21, 2010

PM DINNER TO MK NARAYANAN A RARE GESTURE

PM HOSTING DINNER TO OUTGOING NSA

From Our Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI: In an unusual gesture, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is hosting a farewell dinner to the outgoing National Security Adviser (NSA) M K Narayanan on Saturday.

Union Ministers and senior officials who got invitation for the dinner were surprised as the Prime Minister does not exhibit such hospitality to a bureaucrat. Narayanan has been the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief.

Earlier on the same day, TKA Nair, the PM's Principal Secretary, is hosting a lunch to Narayanan separately.

Narayanan will be sworn in as the West Bengal Governor in Kolkata on Monday to be on time to hoist the Tricolour on the Republic Day and take salute of the ceremonial parade.

Meanwhile, sources say Narayanan may be India's last NSA, the post that came to him after the death of J N Dixit, a former foreign secretary. His successor may not get designation of the NSA but the post as a foreign affairs adviser.

Former foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon is tipped to get the post, with no meddling in the internal security and anti-terror measures to be handled by a new mechanism proposed by Home Minister P Chidambaram under the home ministry.

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