Patna, Aug. 4: In a dramatic turn of events, the human resource development (HRD) department director (higher education), Janardan Prasad Singh, was appointed the pro-vice-chancellor of Patna University (PU) on Wednesday evening after Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh declined the offer citing his priorities to continue as the principal of Patna College.

The appointment of Janardan by the Governor House assumes importance since at one point of time he was a blue-eyed boy of Nitish Kumar and was hand picked by the chief minister from Patna University for the post of HRD department director (higher education) with priority to bring reforms in higher education.

However, with time, J.P. Singh parted ways with Nitish resulting in his exit from the HRD one-and-half months ago.

Moreover, Janardan was also considered one of the top contenders for the post of vice-chancellor (VC) of any of the universities, where post of regular VCs were lying vacant.

University sources said: “On Wednesday afternoon, when the chancellor office received a letter from Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh turning down the pro-vice-chancellor’s post, Janardan was offered the same.”

Sources said that apart from political reasons behind Lalkeshwar declining to take charge of Patna University pro-VC, the other reason is that he doesn’t want to work under a person (read S.N. Singh) who has less teaching experience than Janardan.

Lalkeshwar is the husband of Usha Sinha, the JD(U) MLA from Hilsa under Nalanda, the home district of Nitish Kumar.

University sources said Lalkeshwar declined to accept the offer because of the growing differences between the state government and the governor after chancellor and Governor Devanand Konwar announced names of six VCs and five pro-VCs. State HRD minister P.K. Shahi has already termed the appointment of VCs and pro-VCs “void” and illegal.

Teachers at Patna University are wondering how Janardan, who was once close to Nitish, is being appointed as pro-VC by Governor House at the time when the issue of appointments of VCs and pro-VCs has gained momentum with the government attacking Governor House over the appointment of the VCs and pro-VCs.

Sources said Janardan has been appointed as pro-VC of PU because of his proximity to Raj Bhavan.

When asked whether he would have any problem working under S.N. Singh, Janardan said: “It doesn’t matter under whom I work. My priorities are clear and I want to work to restore the lost glory of PU.”