The Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary Veera Rana (IAS:1988:MP), who is on six months extension, is set to retire on September 30. Consequently, the new Chief Secretary will assume the role before the end of the month.
There are six senior IAS officer are in the race for the top post. They are;
- Anurag Jain (IAS:1989:MP)
- Mohammed Suleman (IPS:1989:MP)
- Ashish Upadhyaya (IAS:1989:MP)
- Vinod Kumar (IAS:1989:MP)
- Jai Narayan Kansotiya (IAS:1989:MP)
- Rajesh Kumar Rajora (IAS:1990:MP)
Among these candidates, Anurag Jain and Rajesh Kumar Rajora are considered the top contenders. Anurag Jain is currently on central deputation, serving as Secretary in the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways while Rajesh Kumar Rajora is Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister.
Mohammed Suleman is the Agriculture Production Commissioner, while Ashish Upadhyaya has been on central deputation since 2018 and currently serves as Secretary of the National Commission for Backward Classes. Vinod Kumar is the Director of the Tribal Research and Development Institute (TRI) in Bhopal, and Jai Narayan Kansotiya is the Director General of the RCVP Noronha Academy of Administration and Management in Bhopal.
If the Union government repatriates Anurag Jain to parent cadre and endorses him for the top bureaucratic post, the state government may have little choice but to appoint him. However, if the Chief Secretary is picked among the officers serving in MP, Rajesh Kumar Rajora is seen as the frontrunner. His recent appointment as Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister, coupled with the fact that he has three years until retirement in 2027, makes him a strong candidate for ensuring stability in the administration.
