Inside story: How PM quelled bureaucrats' revolt

In the face of a virtual revolt by the top bureaucrats who are learnt to have complained against a proposed extension (the fourth in a row) of cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekhar, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh okayed the appointment of Ajit Kumar Seth as the next cabinet secretary from Africa, where he is currently of a week-long visit.

Sources say that a number of senior bureaucrats met the principal secretary T K A Nair to apprise him of the resentment and revolt brewing in the bureaucracy over the unprecedented number of extensions being given to Chandrashekhar -- a move which was blocking the promotion avenues of many senior bureaucrats and batches.

Seth, who was in the shortlisted panel amongst others for the cabinet secretary's post, was secretary, co-ordination and public grievances, in the cabinet secretariat and is a 1974 Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer. He will take over from Chandrashekhar on June 13 and would have a fixed tenure of two years.

Chandrashekhar was part of the powerful Malayali bureaucracy, which was not only running the Prime Minister's Office but also influencing decisions roping in Malayalis in other top posts in the bureaucracy.

Breaking the nexus, it now appears to be the turn of the UP babus to dominate the corridors of power. Seth is a low key 1974 batch UP cadre topper from Allahabad.

Since he was the senior most, the prime minister opted for him as he did not want any controversies like the P C Thomas affair or even before that when Shiv Shanker Menon was appointed the foreign secretary superceeding more than dozen officers, some of whom put in their papers in protest.

Along with this there may be further bad news for the dominant Malayalis. At the behest of Rahul Gandhi, a retired IAS officer Atul Chaturvedi from the UP cadre was appointed principal advisor in the cabinet secretariat. The appointment is for three months but interestingly Chaturvedi has already been allotted a bungalow in Lutyens Delhi.

Atul Chaturvedi is known to have been close to the Nehru-Gandhi family, in particular Rajiv Gandhi during the days he was posted in UP. As prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi once invited himself to Chaturvedi's residence for a meal, throwing the entire Chaturvedi household in a tizzy.

It is learnt that on matters of Uttar Pradesh, Chaturvedi had been in touch with Rahul. And now with this appointment, the buzz in the bureaucratic circles is that Atul Chaturvedi could get some plum posting in future.