BENGALURU: The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday empowered chief minister Basavaraj Bommai to appoint the next chief secretary, in light of incumbent P Ravi Kumar retiring on May 31. Law minister J C Madhuswamy briefed the media and said that a list of nine eligible candidates to become the CS has been recommended to the CM.
There is a list of 9 names, which has been recommended to the CM. The cabinet has empowered the CM to take the final call on who will be the next chief secretary,” said Madhuswamy, while not revealing the names. However, speculations are rife that the top choice is likely to be between the senior most bureaucrat Vandita Sharma and her husband, additional chief secretary (finance) ISN Prasad, with ACS (home) Rajneesh Goel among the mix. Them apart, it is said the other names which have made the list are Ajay Seth (Central Deputation), E V Ramana Reddy (ACS (Industries)), Rakesh Singh (ACS (Water Resources)), Shalini Rajneesh (ACS(Planning)), G Kumar Naik (ACS(Power)) and Gaurav Gupta (ACS(IDD)).