Former bureaucrats get top billing in cabinet
NEW ROLE Two former administrative service officers, extop cop among nine new inductees
NEW DELHI: Retired bureaucrats have got top billing in the Union cabinet with two former administrative service officers—Delhi’ s demolition manKJ Al ph on sand Union home sec re tar yR KS ingh —and ex- Mumbai commissioner Satyapal Singh to be sworn-in as ministers on Sunday.
The government on Saturday announced nine names for inclusion in the council of ministers after six ministers had resigned. In all, there are 14 vacancies in the council. PM Narendra Modi has chosen professionals with experience of the government functioning over politicians in probably th eND A’ s last re shuffle before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
KJ Alphons, 1979 batch IAS officer, is considered an urban affairs expert, as he got the nickname “demolition man” for removing encroachments in the national capital when he was Delhi Development Authority commissioner and improving urban spaces in Kottayam, Kerala. Before joining BJP, he had a frosty relation with the C PI( M) in Kerala. In 2006, he quit civil service and won from Christiandominated Kanjirapally assembly segment as the C PI( M) backed independent candidate. However, he quit the party five years down the line and joined the B JP. Politically, he tried to bridge the communication gap between the RSS and the Christians.
Unlike Alphons, a 1975 batch I AS officer and former home secre tar yR KS ingh, joined the BJP just before 2014 general elections and won from Arrah in Bihar.
Before his tryst with politics, Singh was home secretary for two years (2011-2013).He did not enjoy cordial relation with the then home minister and Congress leader S us hil Kumar Shin de, who had reportedly chided Singh for handling of protest after 2016 Delhi gang rape case.
Singh’s first brush with BJP was in 1990 when he was Sam as tipur’s district collector. Then Bi h ar chief minister La lu Pr as ad had asked him to stop L al Kris han Advani’s Somnath to Ayodhya rath yatra. Singh arrested Advani giving construction of Ram temple a new momentum.
Singh caught party’ s attention when he expressed his unhappiness over ticket distribution in 2015 Bih ar polls saying criminals have been nominated.
Satyapal Singh, 61, is known more as tough Mum ba i’ s former commissioner, who took early retirement to join BJP a year before 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Heturnedoutto begiantkiller as he defeated RLD chief Ajit Singh from his bastion B hag patin wester nUt tar Pradesh. Weeks after being appointed to head a special investigation team constituted by the Gujarat high court in June 2011 to probe Isharat Jahan encounter case, Singh quit citing differences with other two member soft he team. An IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, Singh once described himself as “biggest goonda” of Mumbai.