Pankaj Pachauri appointed communication advisor to PM as Harish Khare resigns

NEW DELHI: Harish Khare, media advisor to the Prime Minister, resigned on Thursday barely hours after Pankaj Pachauri, a TV journalist, was appointed as communication advisor in the PMO. A release from the PMO had said that Pachauri will advise the PMO on communication strategies in print, electronic and social media. It had also said that Pachauri will report directly to the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Pulok Chatterjee.

The appointment order, which put the new entrant on par with Khare, made the media advisor's continuation untenable. The sub-text of the order clearly suggested the need for a strengthening of the "media wing" of the PMO. A section of the government has been blaming the "media management" of the PMO for the image deficit.

Of late, the government had attempted to shore up this department by appointing a group of ministers to interact regularly with the media. After taking over as the principal secretary, Chatterjee has been personally overseeing the "dissemination" of news from the PMO.

Sources said the latest appointment has Chatterjee's stamp. This could mean that the decision has the concurrence of the Congress leadership. Khare had served more than two years as media advisor to the prime minister. A former journalist, Khare said that he had sent his resignation to the PM and thanked him for the opportunity to work under him. "I want to rediscover the joys of being a reporter," he said after putting in his papers.