Pranab to run govt while PM is away

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will oversee day-to-day functioning of the UPA government from Wednesday while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be in Cannes in France, on a four-day trip to attend the G-20 summit meeting.

Top government sources said that Mukherjee would be the man in-charge as home minister P Chidambaram is going on a two-day visit to strife-torn Manipur and would return back to Capital on November 4.

According to sources, Chidamabaram has already conveyed to Mukherjee that he would be out of station for at least two days, and thus passing the power baton to the senior-most UPA minister, in the absence of the PM.

It may be recalled that last month cabinet secretary Ajit Seth issued an official memorandum to all nine members of the apex cabinet committee on political affairs informing that either Pranab or Chidambaram would officiate in the absence of PM Manmohan Singh in November.

The note said that CCPA in case of urgency would be presided over by the senior most minister and either the finance or the home minister should remain in Delhi while the PM is on travel abroad.

Manmohan Singh is off to a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Male from November 9-12 and following that, is travelling to Bali from November 17-20 for the crucial Asean or East Asia summit.