By Aarav
A state-cadre officer who spent more time in Delhi’s power corridors than a district HQ is now set to run the nerve center of one of India’s most-watched politicians. Rajasthan Administrative Service officer Dhiraj Srivastava has opted for voluntary retirement after more than two decades in government to become Priyanka Gandhi’s private secretary — a role that blends discipline, politics, and relentless logistics.
From Jodhpur SDM to Delhi’s power corridor
Srivastava’s story begins in Jodhpur in the late 1990s. As an SDM, he struck a working relationship with Ashok Gehlot, then the MP from the city. When the Congress returned to power in Rajasthan in 1998 and Gehlot took office as Chief Minister, Srivastava was brought into the inner ring as Officer on Special Duty (OSD). That early trust would shape the next two decades of his career.
The key inflection came in 2003. After the Congress lost power in Rajasthan, Gehlot posted his trusted aide to Delhi to work with Sonia Gandhi. It was a quiet transfer with big consequences, moving a state officer into the national political core at a time when the party was reorganizing and building policy muscle.
When the UPA formed the government in 2004, Sonia Gandhi chaired the National Advisory Council (NAC). Srivastava shifted to Delhi full-time and, by May 2004, joined the NAC secretariat as an OSD. He was among the earliest state-cadre officers drafted into that setup, which was then working on ideas that later defined the decade — the Right to Information law, flagship rural jobs programs, and a stronger social sector push.
Across those NAC years, his assignments cut across women and child development, rural development, tribal development, and outreach to nomadic communities. Colleagues who worked with the NAC recall that the engine room depended on meticulous backroom hands who could translate political intent into file-ready actions. Srivastava fit that niche: keep the paperwork clean, keep the meetings tight, keep the follow-ups moving.
Between 2008 and 2010, he served with the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust in an OSD capacity, and from 2010 to 2014, he functioned as private secretary to Sonia Gandhi in her role as NAC Chair. The job required coordination between a political office, a policy council, multiple ministries, and stakeholders outside government — NGOs, researchers, and state officials. The NAC wound down in 2014, and Srivastava moved to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation as part of its senior management team, staying within the Gandhi ecosystem while drawing on his policy and administrative grounding.
All through this Delhi-heavy career, he did cycle back into the field. There were short stints in Sirohi, Jalore, and Jodhpur, and a burst of emergency work during the 2014 floods. But even those postings were brief; central deputation followed quickly. The pattern is clear: his skill set was seen as more useful in the central machine than in a district office.
His other big asset is geography: Amethi and Rae Bareli. Years of work there — part political, part development-linked — made him a repository of local knowledge. Booth-level networks, block-wise priorities, legacy issues with roads or health centers, names that matter at the panchayat level — that’s the sort of detail a national leader’s office relies on when decisions must convert into ground action.
For those keeping score, his rise has a steady rhythm. The arc shows how a state officer becomes a national backroom operator by combining discretion with delivery.
- 1998: Joins Ashok Gehlot’s office as OSD in Rajasthan
- 2003: Moves to Delhi to assist Sonia Gandhi after Congress loses power in Rajasthan
- 2004: Becomes OSD in the National Advisory Council
- 2008–2010: OSD, Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust
- 2010–2014: Private Secretary to Sonia Gandhi (as NAC Chair)
- Post-2014: Senior management role, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation
- 2025: Takes VRS from RAS to join Priyanka Gandhi’s office
There’s also a lesser-known chapter — political negotiations. Party insiders credit him with helping compile and carry a list of more than 130 seats that the Congress wanted to contest in Uttar Pradesh during alliance talks. It’s the sort of job where memory, maps, and backchannel rapport matter more than a public profile.
What his appointment signals for Congress
The private secretary is the gatekeeper, scheduler, and crisis manager rolled into one. In a party office, the job stretches further: coordinating with state units, vetting requests for meetings, channeling research and feedback from the field, and keeping daily workflow aligned with the leader’s political goals. For Priyanka Gandhi, who has spent long stretches in Uttar Pradesh and on national campaigns, the role demands someone who can blend political instinct with file discipline.
Srivastava brings three things to that desk. First, institutional memory — across the Congress, the NAC years, and the trust ecosystem. Second, operational calm — managing multi-agency workflows without burning time on turf fights. Third, a map of people — from Rajasthan’s bureaucracy to block-level workers in Amethi and Rae Bareli.
Expect his office to function like a relay station. Requests from states get filtered, urgent cases get slotted, and follow-up notes move with deadlines. On policy-linked issues, he knows how to gather inputs that can withstand scrutiny. On organizational matters, he can translate a broad directive — say, reactivating district committees or refreshing booth teams — into a checklist that state units understand.
Why does this matter now? Because personnel is strategy. At a time when the Congress is trying to tighten its organization and sharpen its messaging, the people who run the leader’s office determine how fast ideas turn into action. A private secretary who knows both the party’s political calendar and the government’s administrative language can shorten that distance.
There will be questions too. The revolving door between government service and political roles is always sensitive. Voluntary retirement is the legal route, but it doesn’t silence critics who worry about influence and access. Supporters counter that expertise is hard-won and should be used where it is most effective, as long as rules are followed. Either way, Srivastava’s move puts that debate on the table again.
His Rajasthan roots also matter. The Gehlot connection gave him his start, and bridges built in Jaipur often help in Delhi. That doesn’t mean duplicating a state model at the national level, but it does mean a shared language: how to run a chief minister’s office, how to triage competing demands, how to keep a day’s schedule on time without missing the politics in the room.
Watch a few practical signs in the months ahead:
- Sharper coordination with Uttar Pradesh units, especially around Amethi and Rae Bareli, where his ground networks are deepest.
- More structured engagement with civil society groups and policy researchers on issues like rural jobs, social protection, and women and child development — areas he has handled before.
- Tighter meeting grids and faster turnaround on follow-ups, a hallmark of seasoned private secretaries.
- Closer alignment between political messaging and program data, particularly where welfare delivery intersects with campaign themes.
It’s easy to see Srivastava as just another backroom name. But modern politics runs on backrooms. The visible moment — a rally, a press briefing, a high-stakes meeting — rides on invisible preparation: briefing notes, constituency snapshots, last-mile phone calls to line up people who actually get things done. That’s where a private secretary earns his keep.
One more edge he carries: long exposure to the Gandhis’ trusts and offices. Working in the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation trained him to operate in spaces that are neither purely political nor purely bureaucratic. You have to keep records clean, navigate audits, satisfy donors or partners, and still deliver outcomes tied to a political vision. That skill translates well to a leader’s office that sits at the intersection of party work, public advocacy, and policy engagement.
The flip side of that comfort is responsibility. In a high-profile political office, compliance is as important as speed. The system must withstand RTI queries where applicable, internal audits, and public scrutiny. Files, emails, calendars, travel notes — all of it needs to be in order. People who’ve handled those chores before tend to keep the house in shape when pressure spikes.
For Congress workers who have crossed paths with him in Amethi and Rae Bareli, Srivastava is the person who remembers names and pending tasks. For Delhi hands, he is the aide who knows how to get a meeting confirmed without three follow-ups. For Rajasthan officers, he’s the alumnus who moved center stage early but kept his administrative basics intact. That combination — memory, method, and reach — is exactly what a private secretary’s desk requires.
Srivastava’s appointment is not flashy, but the effects will show up in the pace and precision of Priyanka Gandhi’s office. If the workday starts earlier, if the follow-ups are tighter, and if ground-level noise turns into usable feedback a little faster, you’ll know why.
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