With the recent change of the Aide-de-camp (Military) to Governor Banwarilal Purohit, the shake-up in key personnel manning Raj Bhavan seems complete. Since the Governor assumed office in October last year, all the top five officers holding key posts in the Raj Bhavan have been replaced.
Recently, Major Ajay P.S. Rathore replaced Lieutenant Commander A.S. Somvanshi as the ADC (Military) to the Governor. For many years, the post was held by a Navy officer.
Governor’s discretion
Informed sources confirmed that the choice of the service to be chosen for the ADC is “not sacrosanct” and it was completely left to the discretion of the Governor. Since ADC (Military) is a key officer who would be in charge of the day-to-day programmes of the Governor, he is considered almost a part of the “Governor’s family.”
“It only shows that the Governor wants to have his own say in the choice of men. Being a closed campus, information from the Raj Bhavan can only come out through the men from there, and hence, the Governor is particular about his choice,” they said.
The first key officer to be replaced after the Governor took over was the then Principal Secretary to the Governor, Ramesh Chand Meena. The latter was replaced by senior IAS officer of the 1984 batch R. Rajagopal, who was moved from Delhi on the Governor’s request. Deputy Secretary to Governor & Comptroller K.V. Muralidharan and Deputy Secretary to the Governor (Universities) D. Mohan too were shifted out of the Raj Bhavan in January. In the same month, M. Durai, the then Superintendent of Police of Kanniyakumari district, replaced the then ADC (Police) to Governor Praveen Kumar Abhinapu.
There have been several new practices and methods being followed in the campus that has not taken place earlier. For one, it was the Governor’s idea to celebrate the Pongal celebrations in a grand manner in the campus, which is otherwise decorated mostly for national days such as the Republic Day and the Independence Day.
