Vini Mahajan, Last of the Mohicans in Manmohan Singh’s PMO to leave soon

The Last of the Mohicans as illustrated by FT Merrill

COME March 30, Vini Mahajan, The Last of the Mohicans in Manmohan Singh’s PMO, is leaving South Block. Ms Mahajan, a 1987 batch Punjab cadre IAS, will be heading towards her cadre after completing almost eight years of uninterrupted Central deputation tenure. A confidante of PM’s adviser TKA Nair, Ms Mahajan has been continuously serving in Prime Minister’s Office since June 2005, first as a director and then as joint secretary. She had a stint in finance ministry before moving to South Block.

According to an order of Appointments Committee of the Cabinet dated March 22, 2012, Mahajan’s repatriation to her cadre is “ahead of the completion of her extended tenure”. She got her last extension for six months beyond October 29, 2011, which means she could have continued till end of April.

BoI is calling Ms Mahajan The Last of the Mohicans in Manmohan Singh’s B-Team (Bureaucrats’ Team) as she is the only bureaucrat, except Nair, who has become a part of the continuity from UPA-I’s honeymoon period to the turbulent days of UPA-II. Even PMO veteran Pulok Chatterji actually took up a World Bank job ahead of May 2009 general elections, probably with an anticipation that UPA won’t come back to power and a BJP-led government could push him to an inconsequential department.

Now, Ms Mahajan’s place in PMO would be occupied by her batch-mate and old PMO hand BVR Subrahmanyam. He is a Chhattisgarh cadre IAS who served as senior adviser to Pulok Chatterji in World Bank. In fact, Subrahmanyam, an engineer and MBA (from London Business School) was PM’s private secretary during UPA-I. He will now be a joint secretary in PMO for three years “in relaxation of the relevant rules and provisions of the Central Staffing Scheme and consolidated deputation guidelines as a special case”, according to an ACC order.