Hyderabad: Former chief secretary Somesh Kumar was appointed chief adviser to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for three years. The CM had issued orders in this regard on Tuesday, according Somesh Kumar the rank of a Cabinet minister.
Kumar’s appointment comes a day after he accompanied Rao to the ground-breaking ceremony of the Heritage Tower being constructed by Hare Krishna Movement in Narsingi. He was also seen on the dais at a political meeting that Rao held in Maharashtra recently.
Kumar holds the distinction of being the Telangana state's longest serving chief secretary, having been appointed on December 31, 2019, and continuing in the post until January 10, when the Centre's department of personnel and training (DoPT) relieved him from the Telangana cadre and directed him to join the Andhra Pradesh cadre by January 12.
This followed the Telangana High Court on January 10 quashed a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order that had transferred Kumar to the Telangana cadre after he was originally assigned to the AP cadre following the state bifurcation in 2014.
Kumar, known as the CM's 'blue-eyed boy' in bureaucratic circles, held the plum posts of Chief Commissioner of Land Affairs, revenue secretary, head of excise and commercial taxes departments, Real Estate Regulatory Authority chairperson, and Chief Secretary till his unceremonious exit.
As directed by the DoPT, Somesh reported to the AP government on January 12 and met AP Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and the state’s Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy. He did not join any post in Andhra Pradesh, and returned to Hyderabad on the same day.
After a month of waiting, Kumar applied for voluntary retirement on February 15 and had not been seen in public since then.
On April 24, he accompanied the Chief Minister to a BRS public meeting in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, fuelling speculation that he would soon land a nominated post in the Telangana government. The CM heaped praises on Somesh Kumar during the public meeting, saying that his contribution as CS in reforming the revenue department, digitising land records, and making land transactions online in a hassle-free and transparent manner through the Dharani portal were invaluable.
