An internecine war of sorts appears to be going on within the civil servants in Amaravati . The powers of Pravin Prakash, the IAS officer who is considered to be the eyes and ears of chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, has been downsized in a significant administrative change.
Praveen Prakash is known to be all powerful and his writ runs large in AP administrative circles. Several IAS officers have expressed their displeasure at the influence of Praveen Prakash. In fact, he is the hottest topic of discussion whenever a handful of IAS officials or politicians get together. However, of late, there seems to be a clear attempt to cut him to size.
In a significant administrative reshuffle, Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das has clubbed both Stamps and registrations and commercial taxes departments and included them under the finance ministry. Till now, they were under the revenue ministry. This has significantly reduced the influence of Praveen Prakash. Interestingly, this change has happened without the knowledge of Praveen Prakash.
In another move, CS Aditya Nath Das has also taken away the General Administration department from Praveen Prakash. Till now, he was holding both GAD as well as the CM’s secretary posts. With the GAD gone, Praveen Prakash’s influence on the IAS officers and the general administration is considerably weakened. Sources also say that all is not well between the Chief Secretary and Praveen Prakash.