4 trusted Gujarat babus to join Team Modi

All the Gujarat officers have one thing in common. They do not need Modi's 'informal interactions' and advice because they are from the 'Modi school of governance.'

They know Modi well enough to perform their assigned roles. Sheela Bhatt on the latest bureaucratic shake-up in the Modi Sarkar.

Ten months after taking charge in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be struggling to take control of the bureaucracy and trying out various options to put in place officers who can deliver on his dream projects.

In a significant move, he has now got four more Gujarat cadre officers in place in important ministries.

In November 2014, Modi brought in Hasmukh Adhia from Gujarat and appointed him secretary in charge of the department of financial services at the finance ministry.

Banking, stock market-related investments and other crucial financial decisions come under Adhia, who is familiar with the terrain and its limits. The Indian Institute of Management gold medallist also has a PhD in yoga and is totally in tune with Modi's likes and dislikes.

Other officers, who have been part of Modi's core team in Gujarat and have contributed to making Modi a brand name in governance, are all set to catch a flight from Ahmedabad to New Delhi.

Girish Chandra Murmu, an IAS officer of the 1985 batch, is a favourite of both Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah.

For the last eight years he has been a permanent presence at the Gujarat chief minister's office in Gandhinagar.

As principal secretary he managed the fallout of the Gujarat riots and police encounters cases. Murmu was appointed joint secretary in the department of expenditure in New Delhi on Thursday, April 2.

The Modi government is treading slowly in the appointment of officers in the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. The post of ED director has been kept vacant for the last few months. Murmu may be empanelled as additional secretary and eventually appointed ED director.

Arun Kumar Sharma, an IPS officer, enjoyed Modi's complete trust when he was chief minister. For the last ten months Gujarat watchers waited to see when this loyal officer would catch a flight to New Delhi.

Sharma now has an important posting as joint director, CBI.

His appointment -- even though it is not at a very senior level -- is one of the most crucial appointments of the Modi government. He was expected to be appointed an officer in the home ministry, but somehow that did not happen perhaps because Home Minister Rajnath Singh and his officers likely resisted the move.

Raj Kumar, a brilliant IAS cadre officer of the 1987 batch, has been appointed joint secretary in the department of economic affairs.

The workaholic, honest and blunt officer is an Indian Institute of Technology graduate and presently principal secretary, agriculture, Gujarat.

He scripted the report on food inflation in 2010 when then prime minister Manmohan Singh appointed Modi chairman of the committee on consumer affairs to tackle food inflation. The Modi committee report attracted attention for its crisp 20 recommendations, short presentation and 64 actionable ideas.

Modi likes officers who practice modern governance and are well-versed with communication technology.

Another Gujarat officer joining the Union government is R P Gupta, an 1987 batch IAS officer and IIT graduate. Gupta will be the new coal secretary.

On Wednesday, April 1, Modi and important Cabinet ministers had an informal interaction with secretaries to the Government of India on the Panchvati lawns at 7, Race Course Road.

Modi told the assembled officers, 'to consult each other regularly, to eliminate silos, if any, and speed up the process of decision-making.'

A 'communication gap' in this team is absolutely untenable, Modi added. The Prime Minister's Office, in a statement after the meeting, said 'The officers in government should have the freedom and protection for objective, honest decision-making, and said efforts were being made to ensure this.'

Currently in the Prime Minister's Office, Additional Principal Secretary P K Mishra, Private Secretary to the prime minister Rajeev Topno, Joint Secretary A K Sharma are from Gujarat.

All these Gujarat cadre officers and the four new officers have one thing in common. They do not need Modi's 'informal interactions' and advice because they are from the Modi school of governance. They know Narendra Modi well enough to perform their assigned roles.

Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Arun Jaitley at the meeting with secretaries in the government on Wednesday, April 1.