Return of KCR’s ‘blue-eyed’ bureaucrat Somesh Kumar: From longest-serving CS to his chief advisor via VRS

The CM depended on Kumar to give shape to several welfare schemes that the BRS government has launched over the past few years besides overseeing their implementation. KCR has praised the ex-CS at several public meetings, stating that his contribution to improving the performance of the revenue department and transforming it in addition to digitising the land records, has been “invaluable” for the state.

Kumar completed three years as the CS, becoming the longest-serving CS in Telangana that was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, when things took a different turn in January this year.

The 1989 batch IAS officer was allotted to Andhra Pradesh in June 2014 following the state’s bifurcation. He had approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which allotted his service to Telangana. The CAT’s order was challenged by the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training in the Telangana High Court. On January 10 this year, the HC quashed the CAT’s order and directed the Telangana government to relieve Kumar, even as it asked him to report to the Andhra Pradesh government. Kumar then went to Amaravati and met AP CS K S Jawahar Reddy on January 12, but later applied for the VRS (voluntary retirement scheme). Anticipating that he would apply for the VRS although his IAS tenure was to last till December 2023, the Y S Jagam Mohan Reddy-led AP government did not entrust him with any charge.

On February 18, the AP government accepted Kumar’s VRS request. The Centre cleared his VRS application in April.

After keeping a low profile for a few months, Kumar was spotted alongside KCR at a BRS rally at Aurangabad in Maharashtra on April 24. A day before his appointment as the CM’s chief advisor, Kumar accompanied him to the ground-breaking ceremony of the Heritage Tower of Hare Krishna Movement at Narsingi.

Prior to becoming the CS, Kumar had worked as the commissioner of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, principal secretary of Tribal Welfare, and the chairperson of Telangana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).

The officials of the Andhra Pradesh CMO (Chief Minister’s Office) said it was understood that Kumar would opt for the VRS and therefore he was not given any posting. AP CS Jawahar Reddy, a 1990 batch IAS officer, is junior to Kumar.

Kumar’s return as KCR’s chief advisor has also triggered a row in Telangana, with the state BJP saying that the BRS should explain the CM’s “motive” in this regard. State BJP vice president N V S Prabhakar said the BRS should “explain what purpose it serves”. “Why is a retired IAS officer who took VRS being accommodated like this?” he asked.

The BRS as well as the Telangana CMO have not commented on the matter so far.