Bengaluru: On his first day as Karnataka chief minister, D.K. Shivakumar held a series of meetings with top government officials in Bengaluru, giving direct orders to keep the system fair and free from corruption and not to “succumb to any pressure”.
“Either minister, MLA, or my own office…You shouldn’t listen to anyone. You should work within the system of the law, with a positive approach. Where there is a problem, find a solution within the system,” Shivakumar said after the meeting with officials in Vidhana Soudha.
Shalini Rajneesh, the chief secretary of Karnataka, and M.A. Saleem, the director general & inspector general of police, along with other senior officials, were present at the meeting.
Shivakumar also said that a secretary will be appointed to look into public grievances and a minister will be heading the unit. He added that officials have been instructed to work on creating an NRI Secretariat as well.
Shivakumar has already brought in key changes to his team, hours after taking oath Wednesday.
Tushar Girinath, a 1993-batch IAS officer, has been named as the additional chief secretary to the CM, replacing Anjum Parvez, who served under Siddaramaiah.
Girinath also holds concurrent charge as ACS of the Urban Development Department. He was also ACS for the Home Department.
In Karnataka, there is an acute shortage of senior-level IAS officers that has forced the government to place one ACS in charge of at least two departments.
Girinath is a senior IAS officer who has remained in the thick of action for some time now.
He earlier served as the chief commissioner of the erstwhile BBMP under Shivakumar’s leadership and was part of the team that helped its transformation into the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).
Girinath is also a firm backer of Shivakumar’s ideas, including the contentious Tunnel Road project, resisting stiff opposition and justifying the need for the project to move forward.
Despite allegations that Girinath watched over the degradation of Bengaluru’s civic infrastructure, Shivakumar has retained the senior bureaucrat.
Shivakumar also named 2008-batch IAS officer Rajendra Cholan P. as principal secretary to the CM, replacing B.B. Cauvery, who served under Siddaramaiah.
Cholan was earlier the Commissioner for the Bengaluru Central City corporation.
He also holds the post of Director of the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited in Bengaluru now, relieving Gaurav Gupta, IAS, of concurrent charge.
Cholan has worked closely with Shivakumar in the past while the latter served as Energy Minister.
The most important change is perhaps Shivakumar’s appointment of retired IAS officer L.K. Atheeq as his financial adviser.
Atheeq served for years under Siddaramaiah and was the latter’s ACS before he retired. He was also the man behind Siddaramaiah’s fiscal policies, serving as the ACS of Finance while also being given an extension for two years and appointed as Chairman of the Bengaluru Business Corridor.
“The salary and other allowances to the Financial Adviser to the Chief Minister will be equivalent to the post of Chief Secretary to the Government,” according to the official order. He will also continue to head the Bengaluru Business Corridor initiative, for which Shivakumar has been a strong supporter.
(Edited by Archishman Ganguly)
Also Read: Yuva Yuga, farmer welfare & punchlines: DK Shivakumar’s first day as Karnataka chief minister