A Gandhian and an economist, the 72-year-old Jain left New Delhi for Pretoria in early December, after the fall of the Gujral government, a move that left a bitter taste in the mouth of the foreign office because South Africa is acknowledged as a challenging post.

Jain's posting was the source of considerable disappointment even in Pretoria, especially since it followed Gujral's own nostalgia-driven trip to that country a fact the South Africans took great pains to hide. So when Pretoria met to approve the appointment, several ministers were not particularly happy that India was sending a ``Gandhian'' when they would have much preferred a ``forward-looking 21stcentury Indian.''

So much so that South Africa's high commissioner to India Jerry Matsila was asked to check with the foreign office here whether Jain's appointment indicated a ``cooling off'' with Pretoria. Matsila had to be assured that this was not the case.

Unfortunately for India, Jain, who never resigned from his post, is being moved hardly two months before the Non-Aligned Summit is held in South Africa in September.

Gujral's remaining two political appointees have so far remained untouched.

JNU professor S D Muni, ambassador to Laos, was the only one to have resigned as soon as the new government was sworn in. He is also the only one to have left New Delhi for Laos before Gujral lost the confidence of the House.

Meanwhile, Akali leader Jaspal Singh, who left for Mozambique after Gujral was reduced to caretaker prime minister, remains in Maputo. And Prabhakar Jha, another political appointee currently in Madagascar, has been asked to stay on.

Other senior career changes are also on thecards. It is believed that Lalit Mansingh, secretary (West) in the ministry of external affairs, will replace Haidar in London, while Ronen Sen, ambassador to Moscow for the last six years, will exchange places with Satinder Lamba, India's envoy in Germany. New Delhi is now, in fact, going to focus on Germany in the European Union.