Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will proceed, as planned, on his visit to Thailand and Australia in February first week, dispelling doubts over the visit being scrapped because of a likely dissolution of the Lok Sabha.Linked to the dissolution was a speculation — whether the Vajpayee will undertake the visit as a ‘‘caretaker’’ Prime Minister in case the Lok Sabha is dissolved prior to his departure. However, official sources said, even in case of dissolution, Vajpayee will not be a caretaker Prime Minister.In fact, there is no such thing as a caretaker Prime Minister in the Constitution and the term is used to describe a PM who has lost the majority in the Lok Sabha, they added.Vajpayee is slated to visit Thailand to attend a conference of the Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation group starting February 8 at Phuket. After the two-day summit, Vajpayee will visit Australia and return to New Delhi on February 13.
