The State Government’s decision to make former Chief Secretary Rakesh Sharma Chief Principal Secretary (CPS) to the CM and appoint Shatrughan Singh as Chief Secretary seems to have landed the State administration in a quandary. Many, who have spent years in the corridors of the State's administration, opine that two power centres running parallel is bound to set off a tussle.
The portents of things to come were clear after the Chief Minister, while addressing a gathering of Government Vehicle Drivers' Union at Municipal Corporation on Monday, asked the members of the union to discuss the issues related to the demand of grade pay and one month special salary with new CPS to CM Rakesh Sharma. Earlier, the CS used to have dialogues with the union members. Besides, to give more teeth to the CPS, the CM made it clear that Sharma would attend the Cabinet meetings, an honour the CS enjoys as per the norms.
The bureaucrats, who have been loyal to Sharma, are likely to switch loyalty as the new CS is a seasoned officer with vast experiences of both the State administration and Prime Minister's Office (PMO). Besides, given the protocol, the CS alone is entitled to write annual career report (ACR) of the bureaucrats. This fact must be reckoned with, as an adverse entry on ACR by the CS might spike their promotions.
The CM had said many times when the appointment of the new CS was mired in speculation that he would find an amicable solution to the stalemate. After DoPT had cancelled the reappointment of Sharma as Chief Secretary on November 3, the CM said that he would write to them clarifying his Government's stance on the issue while averring that he would not pick up any quarrel with the Centre on the matter. Since then, it was being presumed that he would do something to accommodate Sharma in keeping with his dignity. However, the decision to appoint him as CPS to CM seems to have taken all by surprise as the move is being construed as the exposure of the State Government's baffling dependence on Sharma.
There are, of course, positive things that can be cited to account for the dependence. Sharma was an instrumental in building infrastructure at Bharadisain where the constructions of the Assembly building and MlAs' hostel are on for the past 16 months. His performance there in a short span of time is indeed laudable against the backdrop of the Opposition members ridiculing the State Government for not finding even a ghost of the foundation stone of the Assembly building in June 2014. However, the carping MlAs were silenced after they were provided with accommodation in the newly constructed MlA hostel in November 2015.
However, Shatrughan Singh has also commendable records to inspire awe. He is supposed to have saved then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when the latter was embroiled in a serious crisis during his stint in the PMO. He showed his mettle as a shrewd and astute administrator while he was in Uttarakhand too in his earlier stints.
He showed that he was not one to be trifled with when one senior official broached to him the subject of welcome dinner. He is said to have told the official that he had no fascination for any such dinner as he had dined with former US President Bill Clinton as a member of the PM-led delegation.
"The message was unmistakable that no one is indispensable in his scheme of things. He said he was more interested in talking to the officials than in relishing any dinner with them, something that conveys that he is a person who means business," said a senior State administration official.
At another remove, Sharma made it clear on the first day of his new stint that he would retain his abrasive self while dealing with others in the bureaucracy. Immediately upon assuming charge, he occupied the office the incumbent Principal Secretary to CM Omprakash was working from the fourth floor of the building known as CM's block.
"Things looked ominous as Sharma's personal secretary asked the PS to principal secretary Omprakash to remove the files from the room to pave way for the CPS to settle there," said another official working from the same building.
The question is whether it is necessary for the CPS to sit close to CMO while the CM prefers to run the Government from Bijapur guest house and loves to be on the move, touring the State from end to the other.
Things are interesting, say the observers, as both the officials holding powerful posts in the State administration would seek to show prowess in two different ways. "While Sharma would try to showcase himself as an invincible power centre Singh will seek to keep sanctity of the post he is holding intact with his redoubtable predecessor being inclined to exceed his brief to poke into others," said an observer.