With Assembly elections approaching fast and general elections not far behind, the Vajpayee Government has begun the process of filling up key positions with media-savvy persons. People owing allegiance to the Vajpayee establishment are likely to be appointed in important posts.While Vijay Goel has already been promoted Officer on Special Duty in the PMO, on Wednesday Raj Kumar Sharma, who till recently was Goel’s press adviser, was appointed OSD in the PMO. Sharma was a special correspondent in RSS-mouthpiece Swadesh. The other important positions which would have direct bearing on the publicity of the Government — like the posts of DG, Doordarshan, DG (News) and the key post of Principal Information Officer (PIO) — are also likely to be filled by BJP favourites and media-friendly persons.Sources said PMO OSD Sudheendra Kulkarni is being seriously considered for the post of PIO. Kulkarni is also the Press Adviser in the I&B Ministry. It was on the request of Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj, who was then I&B Minister that Kulkarni was made Adviser to galvanise the Press Information Bureau (PIB). The present PIO, Sahab Singh, is retiring in April. Special DG (News), AIR, B.I. Saini, who was eligible for the post is retiring in February. The other senior officers, all women, in the PIB including Shakuntala Mahawal, Deepak Sandhu (both additional PIOs) and Surinder Kaur, Director General, DAVP are additional secretaries but do not have the requisite 2-year service required to be the PIO.Kulkarni, who is an outsider, does not require all these norms to get himself appointed as the PIO. Similarly, for the other important positions like DG, Doordarshan and DG (News), the Vajpayee Government is on the lookout for its own men. DG, Doordarshan, S.Y. Quraishi was removed last month by Minister of State Ravi Shankar Prasad. Since Doordarshan’s 24-hour news channel is being launched from October 2, the Minister is on the lookout for his own confidantes. According to sources, BJP media-cell adviser Nalin Kohli, supposed to be very close to BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu, is also being considered for the post.
