Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be in Jammu and Kashmir on the 18th and 19th of April, Governor Girish Chandra Saxena told rediff.com on Tuesday.

He will hold talks with state government officials and preside over a meeting of the coordination committee for counter-insurgency, Saxena said.

During his visit to Srinagar, Vajpayee will lay the foundation stone of the north-south corridor of the national highways project, he added.

Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has called senior army commanders for a luncheon meeting on April 10 to discuss the counter-insurgency operations in the state before the arrival of the prime minister. Top police and paramilitary officers are also expected to attend the meeting.

Officials refused to confirm whether Vajpayee would visit Nadimarg and meet the relatives of the 24 Pandits who were killed recently.

If the prime minister is unable to visit Nadimarg due to security reasons, the survivors may be given an opportunity to meet him in Srinagar.

Regarding his successor, Saxena, who will demit office on May 2, said, "I keep hearing names but I not aware if the government has taken a final decision."

According to home ministry officials, the name of Vijay Kapoor, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, had been almost finalised but the Nadimarg incident forced a rethink.

"Under present circumstances it would be better to have an army officer replace the present governor. This would help the army... because the general would be in a better position to understand their problems," a home ministry official said.

Advani will talk to the Mufti before taking a final decision in this matter, he said.