Lucknow: Less than eight months after he retired from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) following a high-profile profession within the Uttar Pradesh administration, Navneet Sehgal has been appointed chairman of Prasar Bharati with a tenure of three years. The put up had been mendacity vacant for 4 years because the retirement of A. Surya Prakash. Sehgal was as soon as an in depth aide of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and a member of the elite ‘Team 9’ — a time period used for the 9 most influential officers who labored carefully with the CM.
Sehgal, who retired from service on 31 July, 2023, after a profession spanning 35 years, was final posted as further chief secretary (sports activities) within the UP authorities however was not given any post-retirement sinecure by Adityanath, who had promptly appointed his different confidante Awanish Awasthi adviser to the CM inside days of his retirement in September 2022.
President Droupadi Murmu appointed Sehgal chairman of the Prasar Bharati Board on the advice of a range panel headed by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
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Shunted out from Yogi CMO to returning to energy at Centre
Once seen as one of the influential IAS officers in UP, who had additionally loved the belief of two former CMs — Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav — other than Adityanath for a substantial time, Sehgal, a 1988-batch IAS officer, had been dealing with the cost of ACS of necessary departments like info and public relations, MSME and export promotion, handlooms and textiles and khadi and village industries until 31 August, 2022.
However, hours after Yogi confidante and 1987-batch IAS officer Awanish Awasthi superannuated that day, Sehgal was divested of those departments and as an alternative given the cost of the low-profile sports activities division, in what got here to be seen as his exit from the elite group of officers within the Yogi CMO.
Subsequently, Sanjay Prasad, principal secretary to the CM, was given cost of all of the departments dealt with by Awasthi together with the division of data and public relations, which was being dealt with by Sehgal.
While Awasthi was again in energy circles quickly after his retirement and seen attending conferences even earlier than his appointment as adviser to CM in September 2022, he has obtained two extensions since then.
In sharp distinction, Sehgal was given no such posting.
Sehgal was nevertheless re-elected as president of the UP Badminton Association in July 2022 for 4 years. The affiliation was based by Congress chief and former Union minister, late Akhilesh Das Gupta, whose household Sehgal has identified for years.
“That he was denied any major post-retirement benefit by the Yogi government shows that the officer did not share the same equation as others who did get plum assignments even after retirement. His retirement was silent,” mentioned a senior UP authorities official.
“However, his appointment as the chairman of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati board is big and especially because it comes just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. It is clear that the officer who is no longer a Yogi favourite has found favour with the Narendra Modi-led central government,” the official added.
Often Oppn’s goal, however discovering favour in successive regimes
While he has been focused by the Opposition a number of occasions, Sehgal is thought to make miraculous comebacks after being sidelined in new regimes.
While he served as secretary to Mayawati for her total five-year time period between 2007 and 2012, Sehgal was put within the listing of officers in ready quickly after Akhilesh Yadav got here to energy in 2012, and later given the division of spiritual affairs which was then seen as insignificant.
However, the Akhilesh authorities roped him in as principal secretary (info) for disaster administration following the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. He was additionally given the cost of CEO of the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) and dealt with Akhilesh’s bold Lucknow-Agra Expressway mission.
While the BJP would goal the Akhilesh authorities for alleged corruption within the development of the expressway, Sehgal’s identify was put within the listing of officers in ready, quickly after Adityanath stormed to energy in UP in 2017.
However, Yogi had turned to him within the aftermath of the 2020 Hathras gangrape and homicide case and Sehgal was seen to take pleasure in proximity to the CM until he was shunted out in 2022.
The 1988-batch officer is since considered as a “troubleshooter” for the UP authorities which had been dealing with widespread criticism across the Hathras case, and he’s identified for his astute media administration, mentioned sources within the UP authorities.
‘Communication, media management, wide network’
Speaking to ThePrint, a senior IAS officer who has labored with Sehgal described him as “accessible and someone who is good at media management”, and has a “wide network not limited to bureaucrats and politicians”.
“His plus point is that he is accessible and has a wide network which is not limited to bureaucrats and politicians. In the run-up to the Global Investors Summit 2018, he was among the key officers behind the successful branding of the UP government ahead of the Global Investors Summit 2018 which is considered a turning point for the Yogi regime. He even facilitated many meetings with top industrialists in the run-up to the GIS-2018,” the officer added.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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