Governors of six major states, including Jammu and Kashmir, would be retiring at the end of April, but the Union government is yet to finalise their replacements.

The others who will demit office in the coming weeks are the governors of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has asked Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani to draw up a list of probable names. They would then sit down to finalise the names.

The most important of these appointments is that of Jammu and Kashmir. Former RAW chief Girish Chander Saxena would complete his tenure on May 1, 2003.

The ruling BJP wants Saxena's successor to have some knowledge about the background of the state and would prefer someone from either the intelligence community or a former army commander.

The names former army chief Gen S Padmanabhan and former RAW chief A S Dulat did not find favour with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. 

"Mufti saheb has already made it clear that he would prefer a civilian as the governor of the state. He feels comfortable with Delhi Lt Governor Vijay Kapoor, who was the chief secretary of the state during 1990-91," J&K Finance Minister Muzaffar Beig told rediff.com on phone from Srinagar.

But the Centre is not keen to shift Kapoor as Delhi will go to the polls in November, along with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

The NDA government's task of selecting candidates for the other states is also by no means easy and simple.

"The Samata Party and the Telugu Desam Party want their nominees to be accommodated," a senior BJP leader said.

The BJP also has some people to placate, chief among them being former party president Jana Krishnamurthy, who had to make an unceremonious exit from the Union Cabinet.

The others in the race are Pyare Lal Khandelwal and Kailashpati Misra though no one is willing to talk about it.