On 8 Oct, two key officials in Panjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann’s media team — Director of Media Relations, Baltej Pannu, and Director of Communications, Manpreet Kaur — resigned from their positions amid a shake-up in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). A spokesperson from the CMO confirmed their resignations and dismissed rumors about the appointment of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide, Bibhav Kumar, as Chief Adviser in the Panjab CMO. The media operations are currently being overseen by Aadil Khan, a close associate of AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who has been appointed Special Media Advisor to the CM. In a related news, on 9 Oct the Panjab govt. appointed K.A.P. Sinha, a 1992-batch IAS officer, as the 43rd chief secretary, replacing Anurag Verma. This marks the third chief secretary change in two and a half years. The Panjab govt. has also appointed retired Indian Revenue Services officer and International Monetary Fund senior economist Arbind Modi as Chief Advisor (Fiscal Affairs). Arbind Modi will be required to tackle Panjab’s entrenched fiscal troubles, including soaring debt, inadequate capital expenditure, and the struggle to fulfill basic financial obligations. The mandate is to mobilize resources, rationalize spending and reconfigure fiscal debt (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 39, Story 1).
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