AGARTALA, June 4 (TIWN): With Chief Secretary SK Panda contemplating to leave the state on central deputation, the state government is in a fix to pick up a right candidate for the coveted post.

After the retirement of K.V. Satyanarayana, the name of senior IAS officer P. Srivastava is doing the round in the corridor of power but his track-record appears as major hurdle in the selection process.

In fact, to level bureaucrats are over the government move to get Mr. Srivastava as the next Chief Secretary. According to them, Mr. Srivastava when he was engaged in the state administration had to face harassment charge by his wife. It was during the tenure of V. Tulsidas as the Chief Secretary. Later, both husband and wife have got mutual divorce.

Sources said, Mr. Srivastava, who was working in the Ministry of Rural Development, has been relieved on May 30. Now, he is on leave for over a month. It has been learnt that Mr. Srivastava was supposed to be elevated to the rank of secretary level but could not make it due to poor performance record.

Fining no other alternative, Mr. Srivastava is eagerly waiting to return the state with a good posting since he is virtually jobless. However, the government is in a fix whether it will welcome Mr. Srivastava or not.

As part of contingency plan, the state might appoint G. Kameshwar Rao as the next Chief Secretary if the incumbent joins the central government deputation. After spending a substantial period at the coveted post, Mr. Panda is desperately wants to go Delhi.  And, the timing for change over the gear has been considered as suitable as Narendra Modi led NDA government assumed office in Delhi after ending the 10-year old UPA regime.

Incidentally, Chief Minister Sarkar today said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to develop the centre-state relation in the coming days. “Since he served as Chief Minister for a long time, we deem it logical to presume that centre-state relations would be made better”, he said.