His PMO space shrunk,n-deal architect Shyam Saran quits

However,after his colleague and junior in the foreign service Shivshankar Menon was made National Security Advisor,Saran moved a note saying he would like to be relieved of his duties before March 15.

Today,he was permitted to demit office on March 14.

Late last month,after former NSA M K Narayanan was asked to move to Kolkata as Governor,Saran is said to have indicated to the PM that perhaps the time had come for him to leave as well.

The PM is said to have told him that he had plans for him and wished that he stay on.

Soon,Saran was offered a Minister of State rank this would have brought him at par with the NSA and also resolved the issue of Menon being higher in rank.

But this elevation came with no substantive change in profile. Saran would have continued as the PMs pointsperson on climate change and advisor on border infrastructure.

Saran had visited areas along the China and Pakistan border and suggested wide-ranging measures for improvement of infrastructure. His was the first comprehensive report on the subject and is in the process of implementation now.

But Saran is said to have signalled that he would like to continue only if he could contribute substantively.

With his work profile not changing much and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh effectively taking over the principal role on climate change,Sarans space for maneuver had shrunk.

This,incidentally,is the third time Saran expressed his desire to quit. The first occasion was after the nuclear deal was done. Given that he had initially been appointed as PMs envoy on the nuclear deal,Saran felt that once the task was over,he should quit. The PM,however,prevailed.

The second occasion came some months after UPA returned to power when Saran again seemed to think that the PM would want a new team. This was also when Menon was going to retire as Foreign Secretary. But the PM refused saying Saran couldnt leave given the significance of climate change as an issue and the Copenhagen conference.

Sarans discomfiture had begun to show as he tried hard to control the official discourse on climate change but received little cooperation from the Environment Minister.

It was not as much a difference of views but the inability to control the timing of Indias key announcements which frustrated Saran.

Sources close to Saran say his negotiating strategy was being blown to pieces by Ramesh who started making announcements on cuts and a climate change legislation without consulting him. These were all concessions which had to be calibrated but their untimely announcements ended up making it difficult for Saran in the negotiating forum.

Menons return,of course,meant Saran had to be elevated but despite the PMs best efforts,his work profile would have made him look a poor second to the NSA. For someone who had authored and implemented some of the key turning points in Indias foreign policy,staying any longer would have only given him diminishing returns.