  We analyze the effect of foregrounds on the observed alignment of CMBR
quadrupole and octopole. The alignment between these multipoles is studied by
using a symmetry based approach which assigns a principal eigenvector (PEV) or
an axis with each multipole. We determine the significance of alignment between
these multipoles by using the Internal Linear Combination (ILC) 5 and 7 year
map s and also the maps obtained by using the Internal Power Spectrum
Estimation (IPSE) procedure. The effect of foreground cleaning is studied in
detail within the framework of the IPSE method both analytically and
numerically. By using simulated CMBR data, we study how the PEVs of the pure
simulated CMB map differ from those of the final cleaned map. We find that, in
general, the shift in the PEVs is relatively small and in random directions.
Due to the random nature of the shift we conclude that it can only lead to
misalignment rather than alignment of multipoles. We also directly estimate the
significance of alignment by using simulated cleaned maps. We find that the
results in this case are identical to those obtained by simple analytic
estimate or by using simulated pure CMB maps.
