<p>The decision of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to appoint former Union home secretary R K Singh as his adviser has raised many an eyebrow and caused heartburn among ministerial hopefuls.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Singh will enjoy the rank of a minister. The 1975-batch IAS officer from Bihar cadre, who retired on June 30, will be Nitish’s adviser in the field of infrastructure, roads, urban development, rural development and building construction.<br /><br />Singh will be the third adviser to the chief minister. Earlier, Nitish had appointed renowned agriculture scientist Mangla Rai as his agriculture adviser and former diplomat Pawan Verma as his cultural adviser.<br /><br />Rai is said to have worked with Nitish when the latter was Union minister of state for agriculture in V P Singh’s regime from November 1989 to October 1990, whereas Verma was posted in Nepal before he quit the service and joined Nitish as his cultural adviser.<br /><br />The chief minister is believed to have soft corner for Singh, who, prior to going on central deputation (where he initially joined the Defence Ministry before being elevated as home secretary), was principal secretary of the Road Construction Department here, and is credited to have laid a vast network of roads across the state. It is believed that the roads constructed during this period fetched Nitish rich electoral dividends in the 2010 Assembly elections.<br /><br />Incidentally, in 1990 Singh was the district magistrate of Samastipur, from where L K Advani was “arrested” in Lalu’s regime during the saffron leader's rath yatra. When Nitish became Chief Minister for the first time in 2000 (although for barely a week), he superseded many senior officers and appointed Singh as home commissioner of undivided Bihar. <br /><br />But relying too much on former bureaucrats and showing scant regard for his legislators, who have been waiting endlessly for a ministry expansion, has drawn flak. “Nitish is the most overburdened chief minister in India, looking after 18 ministries. This shows he has no faith in his own men and relies on tired and retired bureaucrats,” said BJP leader Sushil Modi.<br /><br />After Nitish parted ways with the BJP and sacked all the ministers from the saffron party, he kept all his 13 responsibilities, thus vacated, with him. <br /><br />But the JD-U sees nothing wrong in it. “In 1990, in Lalu Prasad’s Cabinet, there were only 11 ministers, that too in undivided Bihar. So why so much of hue and cry now? Cabinet expansion is the prerogative of the chief minister. He will do so as and when necessary,” said a key aide of Nitish.</p>
<p>The decision of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to appoint former Union home secretary R K Singh as his adviser has raised many an eyebrow and caused heartburn among ministerial hopefuls.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Singh will enjoy the rank of a minister. The 1975-batch IAS officer from Bihar cadre, who retired on June 30, will be Nitish’s adviser in the field of infrastructure, roads, urban development, rural development and building construction.<br /><br />Singh will be the third adviser to the chief minister. Earlier, Nitish had appointed renowned agriculture scientist Mangla Rai as his agriculture adviser and former diplomat Pawan Verma as his cultural adviser.<br /><br />Rai is said to have worked with Nitish when the latter was Union minister of state for agriculture in V P Singh’s regime from November 1989 to October 1990, whereas Verma was posted in Nepal before he quit the service and joined Nitish as his cultural adviser.<br /><br />The chief minister is believed to have soft corner for Singh, who, prior to going on central deputation (where he initially joined the Defence Ministry before being elevated as home secretary), was principal secretary of the Road Construction Department here, and is credited to have laid a vast network of roads across the state. It is believed that the roads constructed during this period fetched Nitish rich electoral dividends in the 2010 Assembly elections.<br /><br />Incidentally, in 1990 Singh was the district magistrate of Samastipur, from where L K Advani was “arrested” in Lalu’s regime during the saffron leader's rath yatra. When Nitish became Chief Minister for the first time in 2000 (although for barely a week), he superseded many senior officers and appointed Singh as home commissioner of undivided Bihar. <br /><br />But relying too much on former bureaucrats and showing scant regard for his legislators, who have been waiting endlessly for a ministry expansion, has drawn flak. “Nitish is the most overburdened chief minister in India, looking after 18 ministries. This shows he has no faith in his own men and relies on tired and retired bureaucrats,” said BJP leader Sushil Modi.<br /><br />After Nitish parted ways with the BJP and sacked all the ministers from the saffron party, he kept all his 13 responsibilities, thus vacated, with him. <br /><br />But the JD-U sees nothing wrong in it. “In 1990, in Lalu Prasad’s Cabinet, there were only 11 ministers, that too in undivided Bihar. So why so much of hue and cry now? Cabinet expansion is the prerogative of the chief minister. He will do so as and when necessary,” said a key aide of Nitish.</p>
