On his US trip, Vajpayee will be first PM to be abroad for a complete fortnight

NEW DELHI, AUG 25: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will be setting a record of sorts when he steps out of the country on September fiv...

NEW DELHI, AUG 25: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will be setting a record of sorts when he steps out of the country on September five on his official visit to the US.

He will be the first PM since Independence to be away from the country for full 15 days. Earlier, he was to return to the Capital on September 18. The rescheduled programme, which was finalised yesterday, indicates that he will now return to the Capital on September 19 night.

Vajpayee will now take off from Washington on the morning of September 18 after one-to-one meeting with President Bill Clinton in his Oval Office and banquet on September 17 evening – and halt at Amsterdam.

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The Dutch Queen will host a dinner for the visiting Indian Prime Minister on September 18th evening. Earlier, Vajpayee was looking for a halt for a few hours and reach here on September 18. Now he will spend a night in Amsterdam and fly out on September 19 morning.

The Prime Minister’s team has been trimmed considerably. Except for three Union Ministers — Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh and Murasoli Maran, there will be none on board his special aircraft. Parliamentary Affairs and Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan is reaching in advance and will join the PM’s party in New York on September 6.

The Prime Minister’s engagement with the Republican Party’s Presidential candidate George Bush Jr has not been finalised as yet due to the latter’s preoccupation with his poll-campaign. Since the Prime Minister will be in New York for first four days to participate in the UN General Assembly. Then he will fly to San Francisco to meet IT experts and others and come to Washington, the Indian Mission there is working hard to arrange a meeting with Bush.

Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra, N K Singh, secretary in the PMO, Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh and a large number of other bureaucrats will also be travelling with the PM.