Ahmedabad, November 8: The steady exodus of senior bureaucrats to the private sector has upset Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Modi, particularly, is not happy with three senior officials who put in their papers when Modi was on his official visit to Singapore and China to market Gujarat.

It may be noted that Vipul Mitra, Jayant Parimal and A K Luke have resigned from the service in a span of 15 days, stirring the rather passive bureaucracy in the state. Among the three, Mitra is joining Adani group as CEO of SEZs. Details about Parimal and Luke’s plans were not available, said Secretariat sources.

Modi is upset with the migration trend which, he believes, is not good for the State at a time when he has initiated a number of reform measures to make Gujarat the best governed state, they added.

“He is upset because the resignations of officials have attracted negative publicity,” said a senior official, adding: “Whatever might be the reasons for the babus to quit, the media keeps harping that one of the reasons is the CM’s authoritarian style which does not allow freedom to work independently.”

Echoing the same view, another official added that indirectly such developments are affecting Modi’s image. “He does not like the way media has reported such things as the highest number of babus have quit in Modi’s tenure,” he said.

Prior to this, more than 10 IAS officials have resigned since 2001 when Modi took over as the Chief Minister, replacing Keshubhai Patel.

However, while Modi has not expressed his views publicly, it is reliably learnt that he has discussed the issue with his trusted bureaucrats. He has reportedly said that it’s not a healthy trend when he wants to sell the State as the most preferred destination for investment and most industry-friendly regime.