Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda is intent on continuing the ‘purge’ of pro-BSY elements from his office. After shunting out his political advisor B.J. Puttaswamy and media advisor R.P. Jagadish, the CM has now set his sights on five more officials in his office (CMO) who are reportedly close to former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa. A highly placed source in the CMO said, “It is only a matter of time before these five officials — Mahadev, a relative of B.Y. Vijayendra who is associated with the CM's relief fund, special officer A. Lokesh, officer on special duty (OSD) to CM at Anugraha (his residence), Tejas, Chiranjeev and Nagarjuna are relieved from their present duties.”
After sending out media advisor Jagadish, Mr Gowda seems to have become emboldened to show the door to his detractors in the CMO. "Mr Gowda's image had taken a beating after a few officials and workers in the CMO tried to delay the implementation of his orders.
"Special officer Lokesh and Tejas have been playing spoilsport and were acting as bridges of communication between the CMO and Race Course Road—BSY’s residence. This was not taken lightly by Mr Gowda who came to know about it a few days ago," the source explained, adding, the ‘marching orders’ for these employees are likely to be issued after the Supreme Court constituted Central Empowered Committee(CEC) hearing on the illegal mining issue on April 16.
Meanwhile, it is reliably learnt that the Chief Minister's principal secretary, I. S. N. Prasad is trying his best to get himself relocated to Delhi on a deputation. “Mr Prasad felt insulted when a circle inspector behaved badly with him at a recent gathering at Yeddyurappa’s residence on Race Course Road. It is not clear when he will seek a transfer from the CMO,” the source explained.