Wings clipped,or taking flight?

While Raghu Menon’s unceremonious exit from Air-India made bureaucrats sit up and wonder,another piece of news from the same ministry had them even more bewildered. Last week,R K Singh,the high-profile Joint Secretary in Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan,resigned from the IAS. He was the point man for both Rajiv Pratap Rudy and then Praful Patel,handling sensitive issues like private airlines going abroad,Air India-Indian Airlines merger besides air bilateral negotiations. The immediate provocation seems to have been the Government’s rejection of his candidature,even after the Ministry had backed it,as India’s representative at the International Civil Aviation Organisation in Montreal. But last heard,Singh — who comes from a well-known political family of Bihar — was contemplating a career in politics. Menon,too,won’t be cooling heels too long; he is being considered for Secretary,Information & Broadcasting,as incumbent Sushma Singh is expected to move to the Central Administrative Tribunal this month-end.