Praveen Pardeshi appointed as CEO of state think tank MITRA

Former bureaucrat Praveen Pardeshi on Thursday was appointed as the CEO of think tank Maharashtra Institution for Transformation (MITRA), a body set up by the state government on the lines of Niti Aayog.

Pardeshi, a former additional chief secretary rank official, has worked at Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ office during 2014-19 — when Fadnavis was the state chief minister — and was known to be close to the latter. Pardeshi was at the helm of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) when he was replaced by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in May 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pardeshi is the second high-profile appointment in the state government in a week. Senior IPS officer Brijesh Singh was earlier appointed as the principal secretary at the Chief Minister’s Office, the first IPS officer to be working at the CMO. In December 2022, Ajay Ashar — a controversial real estate developer known to be one of the closest aides of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who also works for the leader from behind the curtains — was appointed as the vice-president of MITRA along with former MLA Rajesh Kshirsagar.