Thackeray’s pick for CMO: Low-profile bureaucrats who had assisted his predecessors

On the same day, Thackeray also issued orders retaining Dr Bhushan Gagarani, a 1990-batch IAS officer, as the senior Principal Secretary in his office.

While Gagarani was also the Principal Secretary to Devendra Fadnavis during the previous BJP regime, Kharge had briefly served as the Secretary to Fadnavis’s predecessor Prithviraj Chavan during the Congress-NCP regime in 2014.

A senior bureaucrat said that Thackeray is making very careful choices in picking his team in the CMO. He had earlier appointed Mumbai’s former joint civic commissioner (retd) Sudhir Naik as an Officer on Special Duty in the CMO.

Incidentally, both Kharge, who will continue to hold the post of the Forest secretary in additional capacity for now, and Gagarani, who has the additional charge of Industries, are known for their low-profile image and a good administrative track record. Gagarani’s continuation in the CMO has also served a message to the bureaucracy that Thackeray does not believe in sidelining those who held key positions during the Fadnavis regime. Thackeray, it is learnt, also took advice of Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta and some senior additional chief secretaries before finalising the names of the two bureaucrats who would lead the CMO.

Sachin Kurve, an Uttarakhand cadre IAS officer of the 2003 batch, who was handpicked by Fadnavis in 2014 to serve on deputation in Maharashtra, was on Monday appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation. The key position had fallen vacant after Suresh Kakani (2004-batch) was transferred to the position of Mumbai Additional Municipal Commissioner. Before the President’s Rule was imposed in the state, Kurve had served as Secretary to Fadnavis in the CMO.

Among other transfer, Amol Yedge (2014-batch) was moved out from the post of Director of Information Technology, positioning him as Chief Executive Officer of the Amravati Zilla Parishad, whereas Nipun Vinayak (2001-batch) as Director, Municipal Administration. Anand Rayate (2007) has been posted as the Joint Commissioner of Sales Tax.