Intense lobbying for bagging the finance secretary's job has begun. Senior secretaries belonging to the 1964 batch of IAS officers have become very active once the government made its formal announcement that finance secretary Vijay L Kelkar would be sent to Washington to become an executive director on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
One secretary was in touch with Nagpur. The significance of Nagpur has increased manifold ever since the BJP-led coalition formed its government. Another secretary tried to prove to the Prime Minister that he can get the most intractable problems afflicting a key infrastructure sector sorted out in the smoothest way.
Secretaries from other ministries are trying to seek an appointment with finance minister Yashwant Sinha. And when Sinha finds time to meet a secretary from another ministry, word is out that the minister has indeed met the secretary. Nobody bothers to find out whether the meeting was sought by the secretary or the finance minister sent for the secretary.
There are three strong contenders for the finance secretary's job_Piyush Mankad, Y Venugopal Reddy and N.K. Singh. Piyush Mankad, currently secretary in the information and broadcasting ministry, is the topper in the 1964 batch of IAS officers.
Y Venugopal Reddy, who is at present deputy governor in Reserve Bank of India, is ranked fourth on the list of IAS officers of the 1964 batch.
N K Singh, Secretary in the PMO, is fourteenth on the 1964 officers list, some notches below industrial development secretary, Ajit Kumar, and fertiliser secretary, AV Gokak. But Singh's claim to the finance secretary's job is strong, mainly because he spent over six years in the finance ministry in different posts including those of the expenditure secretary and revenue secretary. In contrast, Gokak or Kumar have had no experience in North Block.
If, however, Reddy decides to join the race, Singh will face tough competition. Reddy also held crucial posts in the finance ministry almost at the same time as Singh. But after becoming banking secretary, Reddy decided to opt for the RBI as a deputy governor there. It is not yet clear whether he is keen on the finance secretary's job.
Mankad, too, has had a stint in the finance ministry in the late eighties as a joint secretary. In fact, Mankad was the Controller of Capital Issues, a post which was scrapped after the introduction of capital market reforms. But Mankad's bigger claim is that he is number one in his batch, has had a reasonably competent track record and is serving at the Centre at this point of time.
The finance minister will also have a say in the final choice, although the choice of Kelkar as finance secretary was reportedly an imposition on Sinha from the Pr
