With Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in hospital since the night of September 22, two of her trusted officers —Sheela Balakrishnan, a retired bureaucrat and adviser to the State Government and Chief Secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao — are calling the shots in the administration.
Sources say though exhaustive discussions do take place among other officials on a variety of matters, decisions are taken only after the two enter the picture. It is another matter that in the last two weeks since Ms Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals, no major policy issue has arisen warranting guidance or direction from her.
For Ms. Balakrishnan, her role has not seen much change over the years as she was Chief Secretary from January 2013-March 2014 and has been the Adviser since her retirement. But Mr. Rao, who became the Chief Secretary in June this year after being a Secretary to the Chief Minister during 2011-2016, became a part of the formal decision-making process only recently.
Both Ms. Balakrishnan and Mr. Rao are dividing their time between the hospital and the Secretariat. Invariably, they are available in the afternoon at the Secretariat for official meetings and discussions. They are assisted by a strong team of experienced officers, holding crucial positions and ensuring the smooth functioning of the administration.
Ms. Balakrishnan, whose name was even mentioned as a possible candidate for the post of Chief Minister at the time of Ms. Jayalalithaa’s conviction by a Bengaluru court in September 2014, has been facilitating consensus among the officials on a number of issues before such matters are presented to Ministers or Chief Minister for approval. Some officials feel that Ms. Balakrishnan has been a rallying point for the bureaucracy as otherwise things might go awry.
No official position But, there is no designated function for the Adviser, if one were to go by the rule book. No file is marked to her, as rules of business of the government do not provide for it, claims an official. Perhaps because of this, Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao called the Chief Secretary for a meeting on Friday afternoon before meeting Ministers O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami along with Mr Rao later in the day.
There is a view among certain sections of the officialdom that the Chief Secretary is playing an active role in guiding the administration, though he is less visible. The factor of seniority may have provided Ms. Balakrishnan greater space but these sections feel that Mr Rao’s stint at the Chief Minister’s Office for five years is standing him in good stead. One official who has observed the Chief Secretary’s style of working at close quarters in recent months, says that on any issue, he grasps the big picture and leaves finer details to his colleagues to handle.
However, one group of officers feels that the government is, actually, on an “auto-pilot”. Decisions are taken collectively after consultations with all concerned.
