Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has set a frenetic pace for herself, travelling almost every week and then staying up late in the office till well past 10 p.m. or working weekends in order to catch up on file work. Even though she is at her job for one more year (she retires on Dec 31, 2010), speculation as usual has already begun in the corridors of South Block and in missions abroad about her successor.
Among the names doing the rounds are those of Hardeep Puri, India’s permanent representative at the United Nations; Alok Prasad, who spurned an ambassadorial posting to South Africa to become deputy national security adviser after his Colombo posting; and Ranjan Mathai, India’s ambassador to France.
Lakshmi Puri, Hardeep Puri’s wife, would also have been a formidable contender had it not been for the fact that she had opted out of the race some time ago to take up a UN assignment in Geneva on deputation from the Indian Foreign Service.
rounak