Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s Office is said to have cleared the appointment of eight Special Duty Officers (OSDs) for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, six of whom have worked with him either at Gorakhnath temple or at his official residence in Delhi for several years. The remaining two are BJP workers.
The CMO has sent the names to the secretariat administration department to appoint them as OSDs to the CM, with salaries equivalent to Class-1 officers, sources said.
Raj Bhushan Singh Rawat:
Rawat is currently Adityanath’s personal assistant. He used to work with him in Delhi but moved to Lucknow soon after Adityanath was sworn in as Chief Minister. Dharmendar Chaudhary and Krishnaraj Pandey, who looked after Adityanath’s work in Delhi while he was Lok Sabha member, are also on the list.
Pandey’s biodata, which has been sent to the government, mentions his address as 19, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi — which is also the official address of Adityanath as Member of Parliament.
Umesh Singh:
One who is considered close to Adityanath and has been staying with him since he became CM. Singh earlier worked as Adityanath’s personal assistant in Gorakhpur.
Dwarika Prasad:
Prasad’s address is listed as Gorakhnath in Gorakhpur. Sources said he is in-charge of Gorakhnath temple and looks after the functioning of the administration there. A close confidant of Adityanath, Dwarika has been supervising the janata darbar in the temple ever since Adityanath moved to Lucknow after becoming CM.
Himalaya Giri of Maharajganj district, another name on the list, has also been a staffer at Gorakhnath temple.
The two others whose appointments have been cleared are Abhishek Kaushik of Amroha district and Sanjeev Singh of Lucknow. Both were linked to the ABVP before moving to BJP.
Kaushik was instrumental in organising the Kamal Mela programmes of the BJP before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and had worked in the party’s social media ‘war room’ during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as well.