By IANS,
New Delhi : The Congress’ core committee met here Friday evening to discuss the appointment of new governors in six states and the vexatious Telangana statehood issue, but failed to arrive at any decision.
The core committee, which includes Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party president Sonia Gandhi, union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram and A.K. Antony and Ahmed Patel, the political secretary to Congress president, met to shortlist names for the governors of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The Maharashtra and Punjab governors have also completed their terms and are likely to be replaced.
“The committee is likely to meet again Saturday and a formal announcement will be made in a couple of days,” said a top Congress functionary.
Congress sources said the meeting discussed the appointment of a new National Security Advisor (NSA) as incumbent M.K. Narayanan is likely to be appointed the West Bengal governor.
Former foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon is emerging as the frontrunner for the NSA’s post.
The core committee also discussed the mechanism to carry forward the dialogue process on the creation of a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh.