After spending 18 years in the Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office and serving four chief ministers, Kuniyil Kailashnathan – popularly known as KK in political and bureaucratic circles – voluntarily resigned from his responsibilities.
A resident of Tamil Nadu, speaking Malayalam, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1979 batch of Gujarat cadre continued to occupy a plush office at the CMO even after retiring in 2013. A powerful bureaucrat, seen as a crucial link between Gujarat politicians and leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) In New Delhi, KK was seen as the ears and eyes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had quit the CM post in 2014 and had gone to New Delhi.
Kailashnathan has remained an ever-present at all important government-sponsored events even as the baton of power in Gujarat passed from Modi to Anandiben Patel, Vijay Rupani and now the current CM Bhupendra Patel. It was CM Patel who announced his retirement in a post on X. “K Kailashnathan is voluntarily retiring from my office from June 30. He had joined the CM office in 2006 as Additional Secretary during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure as Chief Minister. In 2013, after retiring as Additional Chief Secretary, he rendered his services for over a decade as Principal Secretary… My best wishes to Kailashnathanji for a healthy and fit life,” Patel said while posting pictures of the outgoing bureaucrat’s last moments at the CMO.
Before bidding farewell to the CMO, Kailashnathan oversaw the rehabilitation and resettlement of evacuees of the Sabarmati Ashram Redevelopment Project, which involved the expansion and beautification of the existing ashram owned by Mahatma Gandhi in Ahmedabad. While there is no official communication, it is not clear whether Kailashnathan will continue to oversee the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram or continue to function as the chairman of Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd, a crucial body that manages the Sardar Sarovar project on the Narmada River. Kailashnathan is also listed as the chairman of Gujarat State Financial Services Ltd, a Gujarat government undertaking and a non-banking financial company (NBFC).
A graduate in chemistry, Kailashnathan’s first major posting was as district collector of Surendranagar in 1985. He also served as chief electoral officer of Gujarat in 1994-95 and then as municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad (1999-2001). Kailasnathan became principal secretary in August 2005, but it was only in July 2006 that he was transferred to the CMO as principal secretary to the chief minister – a post he held for the next 18 years.
Before the 2012 assembly elections, the Congress party’s Gujarat unit had accused Kailashnathan of allegedly « misusing the government machinery » to advance the then chief minister’s political agenda. The party also made a representation before the Election Commission. After his retirement in 2013, the bureaucrat continued to function in the CMO as ‘Chief Principal Secretary’ – a post specifically designed to enable him to maintain a presence at the heart of Gujarat’s power centre. During his tenure at the CMO, he is known to have actively maintained relationships with various socio-political groups to promote the interests of his political masters.