Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday approved Pulok Chatterji’s name for India’s next Executive Director to the World Bank. Chatterji, Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, would join the Bank in February, just months before the general elections get due.

Not counting Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru, Chatterji would be the fourth PMO official to get overseas assignment in the last one year, with three out of them parked in the World Bank.

The first was Joint Secretary Javed Usmani who left last November as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director, World Bank. He was followed by B V R Subrahmanyam, the PM’s private secretary, who exited in July for a similar post. Sujata Mehta, an Indian Foreign Service officer, left soon after Usmani but as ambassador to Spain.

Sources said Manmohan Singh agreed to replace Dhanendra Kumar with Chatterji who wants to wait until January. So, Kumar was given a three-month extension to accommodate Chatterji’s wish, they said.

Chatterji, a 1974 Indian Administrative Services officer from Uttar Pradesh cadre, earlier served in the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and as Officer on Special Duty to Congress president Sonia Gandhi when she was the Leader of Opposition in 1999.