Former MP G Vikekananda named 11th advisor to Telangana

Former MP G Vivekananda and retired IAS officer Rajiv Sharma have been appointed as advisors to the state government taking the total number of advisors to 11. Vivek has been appointed as advisor to the state government on interstate affairs while retired chief secretary Rajiv Sharma will be the chief advisor to the state government. Orders to this effect were issued on Wednesday.
Vivek has been given the rank of a Cabinet minister. He has been appointed for a period of three years. Earlier, the inter-state advisor post was held by D Srinivas, who quit Congress to join the TRS.



However, he resigned from the post after his election to the Rajya Sabha.
Vivek would get Rs one lakh salary, Rs  50,000 house rent allowance, conveyance allowance and medical reimbursement on par with AIS officers/ ministers. Meanwhile, at a felicitation to the outgoing chief secretary Rajiv Sharma , CM K Chandrasekhar Rao announced that the former bureaucrat would be the chief advisor to the government for the next 12 years. Senior IAS officer Pradeep Chandra took charge as the new chief secretary of the state while the state government transferred 13 IAS officers on Wednesday.