Shake-up in CMO: Retired babus Ajeya Kallam, Ramesh, Murali shunted out

Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday eased out three retired bureaucrats holding crucial posts in the CMO and re-allocated the subjects to serving IAS officers, making Principal Secretary Praveen Prakash the establishment head.

An internal CMO order was issued Wednesday, wherein retired IAS officers Ajeya Kallam, P V Ramesh and J Murali have been divested of their posts in the CMO and the subjects they were looking after were re-allotted to other officers.

Kallam, who retired as the state Chief Secretary, was once the Principal Advisor to the Chief Minister during Jagan's initial days in the post, but the former subsequently fell out with the latter, official sources said.

Same was the case with Ramesh, who was continued as Additional Chief Secretary to the CM after retirement last year. Ramesh was the main person handling COVID-19 management in the state till now.

Murali, the junior-most, was made special secretary to the CM and allowed to continue after retirement last year.

"When he became the Chief Minister for the first time in May last year, he needed some guiding hands to run the administration and he relied on the likes of Kallam and Ramesh. Since he gained a grip on the administration in the last one year, Jagan probably no longer felt he needed the services of the retired bureaucrats," a senior bureaucrat observed on the shake-up in the CMO.

Now, as per the fresh order, Praveen, a 1994-batch IAS officer, will lead the CMO with Solomon Arokia Raj (2000 batch) as Secretary and K Dhananjay Reddy (2006) as Additional Secretary to the CM.

Heading the CMO establishment, Praveen will also handle the crucial subject of Centre-State relations besides Home, Revenue and Finance. Sources said there is a proposal to bring in a senior IPS officer into the CMO. Kallam and Ramesh, the sources added, might be limited to some advisory roles," if they wished to continue."