New Delhi, May 22: It was perhaps a coincidence that Manmohan Singh today picked three Indian Foreign Service officers in his council of ministers.

Natwar Singh is the seniormost of the three, belonging to the 1953 batch. Mani Shankar Aiyar is from the 1963 batch and Meira Kumar joined service in 1973. Of the three, only Natwar went on to complete his service. Mani and Meira joined politics before completing service.

Left to themselves, all three would love to head the ministry of external affairs. Natwar is the frontrunner though. Mani is keen to serve any ministry dealing with the social sector or infrastructure like rural development. Meira, too, said she would not mind heading the social justice department.

Natwar and Mani studied at St Stephen’s College and have a good collection of anecdotes from those days. Once, both were present at a St Stephen’s reunion function where Natwar, standing ahead in the queue, wrote in a register recalling his student days as editor of the literary magazine and champion debater. “Whatever I am today is because of college.” Mani was next and he scribbled: “Why blame the college entirely!”