(Top) RK Singh and PK Rai

Patna, Aug. 28: Cabinet expansion can wait, not bureaucrats.

Following the split with the BJP in June, chief minister Nitish Kumar has formed a ring of bureaucrats around him to turn his promises into reality. In the last few months, Nitish has created several cells to post his trusted bureaucrats.

The latest addition to the list is Deepak Kumar, a 1984-batch IAS officer, who had gone on central deputation in January this year. He has been posted as officer on special duty (OSD) in the chief minister’s secretariat. A notification to this effect was issued by the general administration department late on Tuesday night.

A senior official, who did not wish to be named, said: “Had it not been Nitish’s request, Deepak would be on the central deputation for five years as joint secretary in the home ministry.”

Before Deepak was relieved for central deputation, he was holding the post of principal secretary of the general administration department and also looking after Nitish’s ambitious project, the Right to Public Service Act (RTPS), which functions under Bihar Administrative Reforms Mission Society. Under the act, implemented in August 2011, citizens are entitled to get services within a stipulated period and the officers are penalised for not meeting the deadline.

Deepak held key posts ever since Nitish came to power in November 2005. He served as secretary of the health department from 2005 to 2008 at a time when the health sector was on Nitish’s priority list. He was shifted to the urban and housing department where he served till October 2009. He was assigned as secretary of the tourism department, also on the government’s priority list, till January 27.

Deepak’s is not an isolated case. Nitish created a new post as adviser (infrastructure). R.K. Singh, who retired as Union home secretary recently, has been tipped off for the post. The post of adviser (infrastructure) also got the seal of the cabinet. However, a formal notification is yet to be issued. Singh, a 1975-batch Bihar cadre officer, won Nitish’s confidence during his tenure as principal secretary in the road construction department.

Before that P.K. Rai, also considered to be a blue-eyed officer of Nitish, was brought to Bihar and posted as chairman of the then Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB). Rai, who had served railway minister Nitish, is posted as adviser (energy). Similar is the case with Mangla Rai, the chief minister’s agriculture adviser. Ever since Nitish focused on agriculture, Mangla’s importance has gone up in the state bureaucracy. Mangla had served Nitish when he was Union minister of state for agriculture in 1989.

Reliable sources hinted at the return of another top ranking IAS officer from central deputation in the near future. “The officer has been tipped for an important assignment. He is set to return to his parent cadre shortly, though his tenure has not completed,” an officer under the cover of anonymity said.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi took a swipe at Nitish for bringing bureaucrats back instead of expanding the cabinet: “Nitish is running the government through bureaucrats. He relies more on the bureaucrats than his ministerial colleagues, who are holding different portfolios.”