The NaMo administration is about to complete the process of deploying nine JS-level UP cadre IAS officers in the Yogi secretariat as part of its 'strategic preparation' for the 2019 national election. The process has been a complex one as it has to negotiate through mutually different and sometimes conflicting issues. Reportedly, on the instructions from the PMO, the DoPT had initially shortlisted as many as 38 IAS officers, out of which 08 names were finalized. These are Alok Tandon (IAS:1986),  Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat; Sunil Kumar (IAS:1987), Jt Secretary, Commerce; Devesh Chaturvedi (IAS:1989), Jt Secretary, DOPT; Alok Kumar (IAS:1988), DC Handlooms (MSME); Sanjay Bhoosreddy (IAS:1989), CVO, MMTC; Shashi Prakash Goyal (IAS:1989), Jt Secretary, HRD; Prashant Trivedi (IAS:1989), JS Food & Public Distribution; Narendra Bhooshan (IAS:1992), DDG, UIDAI; whereas one more name was later added of Anurag Srivastava (IAS:1992), currently posted as JS, Min of AYUSH. Indianmandarins has reliably learned that Prashant Trivedi's case is through whereas most of the cases seem to be complex. As for example, most of them are senior Jt Secretaries and will be eligible for Additional Secretary empanelment in Govt of India. It may be noted that it requires at least 03 years of experience in JS rank to join the league for AS empanelment. Many of these officers (Goyal, Sunil Kumar, Anurag Srivastava) are yet to complete 03 years tenure as JS which has put them under apprehensions about their prospects of AS empanelment. In addition to these officers, Alok Tandon too is not very keen to move to Lucknow as he has already entered into a crucially important phase of his career in GoI as he will be joining the league for Secretary empanelment by 2018-19. The clause of 'extended cooling off' has added further to the concerns of selected officers, since this means that the officers repatriating to the state would not be able to be back in Govt of India in the next 3-5 years. It is believed that the since the officers will be repatriating as per the needs and requirements of the central govt and not as per their own choice, hence the NaMo administration may exempt the clause of 'extended cooling off period". In view of the complex issues involved, the NaMo administration is expected to sort them out to the satisfaction of the officers concerned before releasing them for appointment in the Yogi Administration. The additional reason for the PMO firefighting for the Yogi administration is that so far, despite three big official reshuffles, the CM has been able to appoint just four officers to the state secretariat; most of the key issues at the secretariat are still being handled by officers from the Akhilesh Yadav regime. This has rung an alarm bell in the PMO that believes that the performance of the UP government may cast a longer-than-reality shadow over the 2019 national election.