Modi’s PMO staff: Careers and controversies

June 17, 2014

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hand-picked his staff to run his South Block office. While they are not very well-known in Delhi circles, most of them are Mr Modi’s old trusted colleagues who have worked with him for long, and come with a reputation of efficiency. Though nothing has been proved against them, they have also had their brush with controversies in the past.

Nripendra Misra: Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister

Role: The most powerful bureaucrat in the government, he will report directly to the PM and will be the bridge between the prime minister, senior ministers and the secretaries in the government.

Credentials: Retired 1967 batch IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, Mr Misra also has a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He comes with the reputation of being an efficient and honest bureaucrat. He also served as the chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Brush with controversy: The same Mr Misra was branded as a CIA agent by the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece Panchjanya in 1992. The RSS mouthpiece carried an article alleging he had “proximity to the US” and was seen with some Americans. Soon after this he was sacked from the post of the private secretary to the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh.

Even after Mr Misra’s known tiff with the RSS, the Mr Modi chose him for the coveted role in the PMO and an ordinance was tabled in the Lok Sabha to clear the legal hurdles in his appointment. The ordinance route was taken as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act prohibited its chairman and members from taking up any other job in the central or state governments after remitting office.

Nripendra Misra could face some discomfort over a set of recommendations made by him as a TRAI chairman of the that aided former telecom minister A Raja’s controversial decision to ignore the auction route for allocating 2G spectrum in 2007.

PK Mishra: Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister

Role: He will be assisting the prime minister in governance and matters which the principal secretary is not assigned to. He will work in coordination with the principal secretary and has been brought in looking at the workload which the PMO will have during the Modi regime.

Credentials: Retired IAS of 1972 batch. He has served Mr Modi in Gujarat as his Principal Secretary from 2001 to 2004. He is seen as Modi’s closest advisor on governance and policy issues, and well networked in power corridors.

Brush with controversy: He was one of the few top bureaucrats present during the controversial meeting called by the then CM of Gujarat on the evening of 27 February 2002, after the Godhra train burning. This meeting made headlines for years after IPS Sanjeev Bhatt made some scathing allegations about the meeting. Mr Bhatt alleged that the CM passed some controversial instructions in the meeting; however, the investigating team later said that his statement cannot be relied upon as his presence in the meeting was not established.

Tanmay Mehta: Personal Assistant to the Prime Minister

Role: Looking after schedules, meetings, coordinating with other party leaders

Credentials: Staunch RSS man. Has been serving Mr Modi ever since he became Gujarat chief minister in 2001, and considered his closest aide.

Brush with controversy: Zakia Jafri alleged that Mr Mehta was present in Meghaninagar, Ahmedabad a day before the violence which killed 69 Muslim residents including her husband and former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, on 28 February 2002. Phone records were furnished to corroborate his presence.

Later activist Teesta Setalvad also furnished phone records to show that Mr Mehta’s phone was used to talk to the then Ahmedabad police commissioner Prashant Chandra Pande five times on the first day of the Godhra riots. Ms Setalvad disclosed this in an affidavit before the apex court on the basis of an analysis of the phone records obtained from the Nanavati Commission.

Mr Modi during his questioning by the SIT was asked whether he used the mobile phone of Mr Mehta during the riots to talk to people, to which the then CM Gujarat said no. It was also alleged that Mr Mehta’s phone was used to talk to some riot accused during the riots in Gujarat; his name figured in the CDs of phone call records submitted to the Nanavati commission by IPS officer Rahul Sharma. However, nothing has been proved against him in the court of law.

Om Prakash Singh: Personal Assistant to the Prime Minister

Role: Managing Mr Modi’s appointments is his key job; apart from this his role is quite similar to that of Mr Mehta.

Credentials: OP, as he is known in the power circle, hails from Banda in Uttar Pradesh. Has a strong RSS background and has been with Mr Modi since early 2001 while the former CM of Gujarat was the general secretary (organization) of the party in Delhi. Mr Singh moved to Gujarat with him as his personal assistant and is considered one of the key members of team Modi.

Brush with controversy: His name also cropped up in the Gujarat riots case when IPS Sanjeev Bhatt pointed fingers towards him. Mr Bhatt claimed that he personally called Mr Singh, the then personal secretary to Mr Modi, and asked him to inform the chief minister the gravity of the situation at Gulberg Society, that if the police didn’t act immediately, the mob would put the society on fire.

Mr Bhatt had called him after he had failed to convince the then Commissioner PC Pande to act, he claimed. Mr Bhatt claimed that even after this call no action was taken. However, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court contended that Mr Bhatt forged evidence to malign the state government.

- This story was first published in www.thepoliticalindian.com on June 17, 2014