Will ‘Vice-President’ Dhankhar appoint an ‘old friend’ Raj cadre IAS as his Secretary ?

Jaipur: A million dollar question, who will be appointed as the Secretary to Vice-President, has perplexed the state’s bureaucracy and has become a hot topic of discussion. It is assured that Jagdeep Dhankhar will take over the mantle in August and then he will have to appoint a Secretary for himself.

It is believed that a senior IAS officer, retired or serving, will be given the opportunity. A native of Rajasthan, Jagdeep Dhankhar has worked in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi as well and he has immense connections in all the places. Therefore, he can appoint a Secretary for himself from any of these states. 

However, word is that some officer from Rajasthan, who would have had experience of working in Delhi, would be given preference. The names that are doing the rounds also features the name of an IAS, who is about to retire. Sources claim that this officer has had more than two decade long association with Dhankhar. Moreover, this IAS along with his wife, had spent two days in West Bengal Raj Bhawan at Kolkata.

The other IAS from Rajasthan is on central deputation, but it is said that he is not too happy with the present assignment. For this IAS, his friends in Delhi are lobbying proactively. Dhankhar himself is extremely talented and a hard taskmaster and thus, it is natural that he will appoint a Secretary, who can walk shoulder to shoulder with him. Although there are half a dozen officers in the race.

Notably, when Late Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was the Vice President, at that time, Rajasthan cadre retired IAS Anil Kumar was his Secretary and second retired officer from state, KL Kochar, was his OSD.

It is also an interesting coincidence that the responsibility of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s office is also in hands of two Rajasthan-based officers, IAS Siddharth Mahajan and RPS Rajeev Dutta.