Consolation prize?

IT’S now certain that the Indian High Commissioner to UK, Kamlesh Sharma, will be India’s candidate for the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s post. The nomination will be officially made in November at the CHOGM in Uganda, but one man is still keeping his fingers crossed — the Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Shiv Shankar Mukherjee. He was tipped to take over from Nirupam Sen, India’s Permanent Representative in the UN, but Sen was able to reach out to the Left and secure a further extension, to March 2008. Mukherjee’s hope is for a London posting, perhaps a reward for not protesting over Shiv Shankar Menon’s appointment as Foreign Secretary?