It has been more than two weeks since YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy constituted his council of ministers.
They took oath of office and secrecy on June 8 and all of them got into their chambers in the Secretariat in the next one week to 10 days. Yet, none of the ministers has got his or her ministerial staff till date.
Reason: the ministers have not been given powers to choose their own personal secretaries and personal assistants, besides officers on special duty.
There were clear instructions from the chief minister’s advisor Ajeya Kallam that nobody should appoint any personal staff without clearance from Jagan.
According to sources, the file pertaining to the appointment of officials in the peshis of deputy chief ministers and other cabinet ministers was still lying with the chief minister’s office. As a result, the ministers are not able to operate from their offices in Secretariat till now.
Though the visitors, MLAs and others have been bringing requests to get works executed by different departments, the ministers have been finding it very difficult to get things done at the peshis, since there was no official staff available to discharge different duties.
“We are hoping that the chief minister will give clearance to the file in a day or two. After that, it will go the General Administration Department which will release the Government Order posting the officials,” an official said.
According to the official, each minister will be given an Officer on Special Duty, a Personal Secretary, Additional Personal Secretary, Personal Assistant, Data Entry Operator and a Public Relations Officer at his or her peshi.
Jagan strictly instructed that all the ministers not to induct any officer who worked in the Peshis of previous government.
Yet, some ministers continued the old staff in the same positions. Some others, who worked as OSDs, PSs, PAs and Media Liaison Officers (PROs) have been requesting the Ministers for their reappointment in the Peshis.