Delhi CM likely to bring in outsiders to run CMO

New Delhi: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal may bring in officials from outside Delhi or appoint private persons on co-terminus basis with at least a dozen senior officers declining to work in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). The CMO is, at present, running short of officers and, if sources in the government are to be believed, it may soon become “officer-less”.

Sources in the CMO said the CM had approached around 10-12 officers to work in his office, but they politely refused to take up the new assignment, fearing they may also come on the “CBI radar” since the CM’s principal secretary Rajendra Kumar and deputy secretary Tarun Kumar faced action in an alleged graft case. Both officers were suspended following the CBI case in 2016.

“In view of dearth of officers in the CM’s office, around a dozen bureaucrats were approached, but they declined... The chief minister will have no option but to hire officers from outside Delhi or co-terminus staff to run his office,” a source said.