Krishna’s aide in Bangalore may head for Mumbai

‘‘The Maharashtra government has already requested the Centre to allow his transfer from the Karnataka cadre to Maharashtra,’’ a top administrative official said. ‘‘We have been hearing that the Centre has cleared his transfer, but a formal intimation has not come yet,’’ the official added.

Jerome was Krishna’s pointman for the Bangalore makeover project. In the four years (1999-2003) before he was unceremoniously shunted out as BDA Commissioner, Jerome managed to keep Bangalore abreast with its explosive growth. However, following Krishna’s departure from power, Jerome was transferred as secretary to the Minority Welfare Department.

According to sources in Bangalore, he was removed at the instance of former PM H.D. Deve Gowda, after the officer humbled Bangalore’s land mafia. Now, at Krishna’s insistence, he is being shifted to Mumbai. Though there are several instances of inter-state cadre transfers, this is the first time that an officer from another state is being brought to the Raj Bhavan.

Expectedly, a section of bureaucrats is not happy. ‘‘It will lead to a friction — even between Krishna and Chief Minister Deshmukh — if he (Jerome) is allowed to interfere in the implementation of the Mumbai plan,’’ said a senior Mantralaya official.