Khattar aides Nehru, Bharti made OSDs in CMO

Making first political appointments in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), the Nayab Singh Saini Government has appointed two Officers on Special Duty (OSDs) — Raj Nehru and Bharat Bhushan Bharti.

The orders appointing Nehru and Bharti as the OSDs were issued by Chief Secretary Vivek Joshi. The appointments were made after getting a green signal from the party high command, sources said.

From corporate honcho to OSD

Raj Nehru has held senior corporate positions before he was handpicked by former CM Manohar Lal Khattar to head India’s first skill university — Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, Palwal — as the founding Vice-Chancellor. He was also Mission Director of the Haryana Skill Development Mission.

Both Nehru and Bharti are considered close to former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Bharti, who has been the Chairman of the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC), was the political adviser to Khattar.

Nehru held senior corporate positions before he was handpicked by Khattar to head India’s first skill university — Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, Palwal — as the founding Vice-Chancellor. Currently, the CMO has three HCS officers as the OSDs -- Vivek Kalia, Sudhanshu Gautam and Rakesh Sandhu.

With these appointments, the revamp of the CMO, currently headed by Chief Principal Secretary Rajesh Khullar, is almost complete. Recently, Arun Kumar Gupta and Saket Kumar were appointed as Principal Secretary and Additional Principal Secretary to CM, respectively. Yash Pal was appointed as Deputy Principal Secretary to CM.

The sources said a couple of more political appointments were likely to be made in the CMO. These included media adviser to CM and political adviser to the CM.