PM prunes US team, but accommodates Najma

Since Pramod Mahajan was to join Vajpayee in San Francisco for the Information Technology conference, he has been excluded from the official delegation as West Coast is out of the Prime Minister’s itinerary. There is no possibility of a shift in the venue of the IT conference to the East Coast.

However, there is a surprise inclusion in Vajpayee’s team — Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptulla. Heptulla, who is already in New York to participate in the millennium conference of presiding officers, will join the PM’s delegation on September 8 at the UNO.

Heptulla has been included in the delegation in her capacity as chairperson of the International Parliamentary Union and also because of her long experience and contacts with the Senate and Congress leaders. When the Prime Minister goes to Washington to address the joint session of the US Congress, Najma will be by his side.

Despite considerable pressure, the Prime Minister has also decided not to include MPs in his delegation.

Among the officials accompanying the Prime Minister are five secretaries — N.K. Singh (PMO), Shyamal Ghose (Telecom), Prabir Sen Gupta (Commerce), A.K. Basu (Power) and Lalit Man Singh (Foreign). Even though the Finance Minister is on the team, Secretary (finance) P.G. Mankad will not be going.