Vijayawada: Incoming Chief Secretary (CS) Ajeya Kallam is reluctant to occupy the post, but it is assumed that he will take charge on March 1, 2017. He has expressed his reluctance to the government, stating that his superannuation is due on March 31, 2017.
He was of the opinion that it wouldn’t be right for him to become the CS just a month before superannuation; but the state government has managed to convince him otherwise, in order to further their agenda of attracting communal votes.
According to highly-placed sources, some interesting facts have come up regarding the selection of the CS to the government. After a six-month extension period, current Chief Secretary S.P. Tucker’s tenure is due to end on February 28; and a few names had been proposed, as potential replacements.
At present, there are six Special Chief Secretaries in the Andhra Pradesh government, A.K. Parida of the 1980 batch, Lingaraj Panigrahi of the 1982 batch, and L.V. Subrah-manyam, Ajeya Kallam, Dinersh Kumar and Bhavan Lal of the 1983 batch.
The government had initially intended to replace Mr Tucker with IAS Officer Anil Chandra Punetha of the 1984 Batch, whose superannuation is due in May 2019. Nobody expected Ajeya Kallam to even be in the running. However, the government, in a surprising move, picked Mr Kallam to be the next CS.
Although Mr Kallam has a good track record and capabilities, the government has picked him because he belongs to the Reddy community, which is bothering bureaucrats. A senior IAS officer said the position of CS is generally not expected to be given to anyone who is due to superannuate in a month.
He said that if the government was really eager on Mr Kallam serving as CS, it would not have granted S.P. Tucker an extension. It would have made Kallam a CS six months ago, allowing him to serve for a total of 13 months, assuming that Mr Kallam would also be given a six month extension.
Earlier, the government had stopped all others, Mr Kallam included, from becoming a CS; but now, with the changing political scenario, it is hoped that Mr Kallam as a CS, will attract the votes of the Rayalaseema Reddy community.
