Brijesh Singh new principal secy to CMO

Senior IPS officer Brijesh Singh on Monday was appointed as the Principal Secretary to the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Office. An IPS officer will be part of the CMO for the first time.

Singh headed the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations of the state government when BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was the chief minister. Singh, who worked as the ADG (Home Guards) — a low-key posting — was also the first IPS cadre officer to handle the state’s Public Relations department during the reign of Fadnavis, and also handled the state’s Cyber Crime branch. He was considered as one of the most powerful IPS officials during Fadnavis’ tenure, but was later sidelined by the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, led by the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The CMO is currently handled by Additional Chief Secretary Bhushan Gagrani and Principal Secretary Vikas Kharge.