Wednesday, July 12 2006 11:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: With the India-US civil nuclear deal likely to clear the US Congress soon, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is said to be giving serious thought to appointing a full-fledged external affairs minister after holding charge of the crucial ministry himself for over six months.

As India's importance grows on the world stage and the work of the external affairs ministry expands, pressure is mounting on Manmohan Singh to name a full-fledged foreign minister.

The prime minister is seriously thinking of appointing a regular foreign minister so he can concentrate on the bigger picture, reliable sources in the government told sources.

Ever since K. Natwar Singh quit as external affairs minister in December over his alleged involvement in the UN's Iraqi oil-for-food scandal, there was growing speculation that Manmohan Singh would name a foreign minister soon. Politicking in the party started and names of probable successors kept cropping up.

But soon it became clear that realizing the sensitivity of the India-US nuclear deal, Manmohan Singh himself would lead the foreign ministry while a lot of the routine protocol and administrative work was shared between the two ministers of state Anand Sharma and E. Ahamed.

"Manmohan Singh wants to see the nuclear deal through. The deal was struck due to personal equations between Manmohan Singh and (US President) George Bush and (Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice. Once the deal passes Congress, he might appoint a foreign minister," K. Subrahmanyam, strategic analyst and head of the Government-appointed Task Force on Global Strategic Developments, told sources.

Rice said she was confident that Congress would pass the deal before it goes in for recess Aug 4. If all goes according to the plan, India can expect to have a foreign minister by the time Manmohan Singh goes for the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Havana in September, the sources told sources.

Another reason why Manmohan Singh hasn't named a foreign minister yet is because there are far too many claimants for this crucial position.

Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram are among those whose names are in circulation. Natwar Singh would also want to return to the ministry.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), a key ally of the ruling coalition and a critic of the government's foreign policy, has an ideological take on the issue.

"It doesn't matter who is the foreign minister. We are not concerned with individuals but with the rightward shift of foreign policy under this government," CPI-M politburo member Brinda Karat told sources.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India's chief opposition, however, considers it disconcerting that the country does not have a full-fledged foreign minister at a time when it has fielded a candidate for the post of the UN Secretary General and when it plans to accelerate its campaign for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

"For a country like India with so many foreign policy challenges, there should be a separate foreign minister. The fact that the prime minister has not been able to find a suitable candidate for this crucial position shows the bankruptcy of the Congress leadership," says Prakash Javadekar, spokesperson of the BJP.

Former foreign secretary Shashank does not see any harm in the prime minister directly handling the foreign ministry. But he points out that if this continues for too long, it could affect New Delhi's regional diplomacy.

"Regular regional interactions at the level of SAARC or ASEAN suffer if the country does not have a regular foreign minister," stresses Shashank.