When the 1994-batch IAS officer, Nandini Chakravorty, was named as Bengal’s Chief Secretary by the Mamata Banerjee government, it raised many an eyebrow, as this move was not widely expected. The reason was simple: there were at least 11 IAS officers in the state cadre who were overlooked for selection to the state’s top bureaucratic position despite being senior to Chakravorty. A few of them were even five to six years senior to her, yet they missed the bus, all because of Chakravorty’s close proximity to the Bengal Chief Minister.
Chakravorty’s closeness with CM Mamata Banerjee came to the spotlight in February 2023 when she was serving as the Principal Secretary to the Governor, CV Anand Bose. It started with a speech that Chakravorty is said to have scripted for Governor Bose, which was full of praise for Mamata Banerjee. It resulted in the Governor being severely criticized by the BJP leaders for praising Mamata.
The Governor got so angry with his Principal Secretary that he ordered her immediate removal from the Raj Bhawan. It unleashed a spat between the Raj Bhawan and the Mamata Banerjee-led government in the state. And Chakravorty was found in the middle of that spat.
The spat intensified with Governor Anand Bose’s decision to shift Chakravorty from the Raj Bhawan to the tourism department. The move irked the Trinamool Congress govt, which expressed its unhappiness with the Governor for announcing the decision unilaterally. The move generated the first brush of tension between the Governor and the Chief Minister. The two had shared a cordial relationship up to that point.
The incident highlighted the closeness between Chakravorty and Mamata. Chakravorty slowly steeled CM Mamata Banerjee’s confidence and went on to become the secretary of Sundarban affairs and now the Chief Secretary of the state.
Even her selection as the Chief Secretary contains the element of a controversy from the standpoint of the seniority in the Bengal bureaucracy. Chakravorty superseded about 11 seniors to grab this post. Among those who were superseded to favour Chakravorty for the top slot are Sepuri Suresh Kumar, a 1988-batch officer; Atri Bhattacharya from the 1989 batch; Vivek Kumar, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, and Vivek Bhardwaj, from the 1990 batch; Dr Krishna Gupta of the 1991 batch; Varun Kumar Ray of the 1992 batch; and Roshni Sen, Prabhat Kumar Mishra, Dushyant Nariala, and Anoop Kumar Agrawal, all from the 1993 batch. Nandini Cakravorty belongs to the 1994 batch.
Whatever the case, there is no denying the fact that Chakravorty, an alumna of the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), is known as a bright officer too.
By: Dinesh Kumar
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