Within hours of stepping down as the chief secretary of Andhra Pradesh after enjoying the three-month extension, retired IAS officer K Vijayanand was appointed in a plum post by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
After handing over the charge to new chief secretary Sai Prasad, Vijayanand was appointed as Ex-Officio Special Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister and Special Chief Secretary (Energy). Orders were issued minutes after his retirement on Saturday evening.
Vijayanand will also serve as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Andhra Pradesh Transmission Corporation (APTRANSCO) for a period of one year.
The government clarified that in his new role overseeing the Energy Department, Vijayanand will report directly to the chief minister, without intermediary administrative reporting structures.
Meanwhile, Mudadda Ravichandra, who was serving as Principal Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), has been appointed as the full-time Executive Officer (EO) of TTD.
The decision to assign significant post-retirement responsibilities to Vijayanand has drawn attention in administrative circles, given the strategic importance of the Energy portfolio, as he was a blue-eyed bureaucrat of previous chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy as well.
It was Vijayanand who had played instrumental role in signing the agreement with Adani Group indirectly through Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). He wielded a lot of control over the energy department.
Even after Jagan lost power, Vijayanand continued to get favours from the TDP government as well and Naidu rewarded him with chief secretary post.
Now, even after retirement, Vijayanand was reappointed in-charge of energy department.
