With a new government set to take over, speculation has begun over key appointments. One of them is with regard to the post of cabinet secretary, the race for which is hotting up in the corridors of power. ncumbent cabinet secretary A.K. Seth is due to retire on June 13. The grapevine has it that Bihar chief secretary Ashok Kumar Sinha, an officer of the 1976 batch, is being tipped for the top post. “Going by seniority, he is the most eligible officer to serve the post. He maintains a low profile, too,” a Bihar cadre IAS officer said.inha’s drawback is he is due to retire from service on June 30. The new government, sources said, would like continuity in the post. Also, Sinha faces a challenge from 1977 batch officers Alok Rawat and Varesh Sinha and Jawed Usmani of the 1978 batch.awat, an officer of the Sikkim cadre, is the Union water resources secretary. Varesh Sinha and Usmani are posted as the chief secretaries of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, respectively. hether Sinha gets the job will depend on how much weight he can pull with the new dispensation in Delhi. Keep watching this space. The guessing game has started. Lalu Prasad declared that his alliance would get nearly all the seats. Unofficially, though, the party is looking at 15 seats for the UPA in Bihar. Sushil Kumar Modi is sticking his estimate at 30-plus. The JD(U) leaders are the ones finding it difficult to read chief minister Nitish Kumar’s mind. He has hardly talked to us or journalists after the end of campaigning,” said an MLA. The JD(U) leaders are sitting together to debate how many seats they would win and the number keeps on changing from two to seven.
Sunday, 21 December 2025
