From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Nov 28: For the first time in Karnataka’s history, both the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police in the State will be women with the incumbent Additional Chief Secretary finally being selected to head the entire bureaucracy in the State.

The senior-most IPS officer Neelamani N Raju, who has a diverse experience at the Centre and in the State, became the State’s first woman Director General and Inspector General of Police on October 31.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah decided to honour the principle of going by seniority in naming Additional Chief Secretary Ratna Prabha as the new Chief Secretary of Karnataka.

Ratna Prabha, who belongs to the Dalit community, would succeed Subhash Chnadra Kuntia, who is retiring on Friday.

With the entire civil service and police force in the State will be manned by women and the ruling Congress party is expected to take political advantage of the appointment of two women to head the bureaucracy and police force as its commitment to empowerment of women ahead of next year’s crucial assembly polls.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday organised a farewell function to Kuntia at his official residence Krishna.

In his twitter handler, Siddaramaiah congratulated Prabha for her new posting and senior IAS officer and Development Commissioner T M Vijay Bhaskhar, who has been appointed as the Additional Chief Secretary.

Ratna Prabha is the third woman Chief Secretary of the state after Teresa Bhattacharya (2000) and Malathi Das (2006). She will head the state administrative machinery till March 2018.