Thanks to the rout the Congress Party faced in Kerala –– where it did not win even one of the 20 seats –– the only Keralite in the Council of Ministers is the Muslim League’s E. Ahmed. But the state can take heart from the fact that there are Keralites galore in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

T.K. Ayyappankutty Nair was on May 28 appointed principal secretary (PS) to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Nair, 64, is presently officer on special duty (OSD) to the prime minister and his appointment as principal secretary has been approved. Which means he steps into the boots of the redoubtable Brajesh Mishra, who was PS to Vajpayee and held the additional charge of National Security Adviser (NSA).

The new NSA, incidentally, is also a Keralite –– J.N. ‘Mani’ Dixit. And the third Keralite in the PMO is Raju Korah, an Indian Information Service officer who will handle the media for Manmohan Singh.

Nair, a Punjab cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was chairman of the Public Sector Enterprises Board prior to his appointment as OSD.

He is a veteran administrator who has also served as secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, was special secretary in the Planning Commission and chief secretary to the Punjab government. And it is to him that Punjab cadre officers still turn to when they need advise.

That Singh picked Nair as his closest aide is hardly surprising. The two have known each other for several years and had been working together in the Center for Research in Rural and Industrial Development.