The first indication that the United Progressive Government may opt to hold the General Election before schedule came on Tuesday, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed Ashok Chawla as secretary, economic affairs instead of picking up a full-fledged finance secretary.
Appointment of Chawla, who is currently the civil aviation secretary means that the UPA government will not be presenting the full Union Budget in February 2009.
On Monday Cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar and Finance Minister P Chidambaram discussed the appointment of a new secretary, department of economic affairs and zeroed on Chawla. Chandrasekhar also had a brief meeting with the prime minister on Monday and forwarded Chawla's name.
Chawla is likely to meet both the prime minister and the finance minister on Wednesday.
Normally the secretary heading the Department of Economic Affairs is the key man responsible for preparing the Union Budget and as such he is designated as the finance secretary. But this time around there is no such possibility as the vacancy created with D Subbarao's appointment as RBI governor has been filled by a junior staff.
The PM has formally cleared the appointment of Chawla, a 1973 batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer, as the secretary in the department of economic affairs and the formal orders of his appointment are expected on Thursday, as it takes two full working days to process the appointment.
Sources in the finance ministry said that Chidambaram has made it clear that nobody was being designated as the finance secretary and as such all secretaries heading various departments in his ministry would be reporting directly to him.
Chawla's appointment to the post ruled out the possibility of him becoming the finance secretary as, Arun Ramanathan, topper of his 1973 batch, is already in the ministry as secretary, financial services (earlier known as the banking division).
There are four secretaries in the finance ministry, heading the respective departments of economic affairs, revenue (P V Bhide Andhra 1973), financial services (Arun Ramanathan Tamil Nadu cadre topper) and expenditure (Madam Sushma Nath 1974 MP).