Powerful bureaucrat of erstwhile Manmohan Singh’s PMO — BVR Subrahmanyam to play key role in Kashmir

Dal Lake in the heart of Srinagar 

AFTER the BJP had walked out of the alliance in Jammu and Kashmir bringing down the Mehbooba Mufti government on Tuesday, the Governor’s rule was imposed in the troubled state. Interestingly, on the same day, i.e. Tuesday, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved "placing the services of BVR Subrahmanyam", a powerful bureaucrat in the erstwhile Manmohan Singh’s PMO "at the disposal of the government of Jammu and Kashmir", implying that this 1987 batch Chhattisgarh cadre IAS will now…
play a key role in assisting the Governor while governing the state. The order issued on June 19, is signed by PK Tripathi, secretary of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet and the establishment officer in DoPT. At the time of writing this article, it’s not known what will be the exact role of Subrahmanyam in Kashmir. He is currently serving at his state, Chhattisgarh.

BVR, as he is popularly known among his friends and colleagues, is an engineer and also an MBA from the London Business School. He was serving as a director in the commerce ministry when the UPA government came to power in May 2004. The then prime minister Manmohan Singh appointed the officer as his private secretary. BVR originally hails from Andhra Pradesh. He worked  as the then PM’s private secretary for over four years before shifting his base to Washington DC as senior adviser in the World Bank.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh then wrote a letter to the then PM Manmohan Singh asking him to relieve BVR as the latter had never worked in the state from the time the state was formed in 2000. The then PM replied to Raman Singh: “I need an officer who has the experience and exposure in handling sensitive matter. The officer also needs to be someone who enjoys my trust and confidence. Due to these reasons, I have selected BVR…”. BoI in a post dated August 2012 reproduced the parts of that letter. BVR in March 2012 joined as a joint secretary in PMO, his second innings in the South Block. He remained in the Prime Minister's Office till March 2015 before getting shifted to his cadre, Chhattisgarh.