Jagan tries for Ravindra again

The Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government has reportedly started making fresh efforts to secure the inter-cadre deputation of Telangana state cadre IPS officer Stephen Ravindra to Andhra Pradesh to post him as the state Intelligence chief.

Though AP Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy took up the matter personally with Union home minister Amit Shah last year, and his administration followed-up with the Centre, the proposal was neither given the goahead nor rejected as officials in the Union home ministry were of the view that it was not in accordance with the All India Service rules.

However, renewed efforts have begun once again to get Mr Ravindra, a 1999 batch IPS officer presently posted as Inspector-General, West Zone, in Telangana state.

Highly placed sources told Deccan Chronicle that during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and with Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday, the AP Chief Minister, besides discussing various other issues concerning the state, is understood to have broached the topic of Mr Ravindra’s intercadre deputation. He reportedly reminded them that even the

Telangana state government had given its “noobjection” to Mr Ravindra’s request for inter-cadre deputation.

Though it is not known whether or not the Chief Minister was given any assurance, sources insisted that the home ministry would consider the fresh request with an “open mind,” more so as the Chief Minister is keen on having Mr Ravindra as his “eyes and ears”. Presently, another IPS officer, Mr Manish Kumar Sinha, is IG, Intelligence in AP.

It was Mr Reddy who had hand-picked Mr Ravindra for the key post soon after the YSR Congress stormed to power last year. Mr Reddy’s friendly ties with Telangana state

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao ensured that the TS government quickly gave a “no-objection”.

Once the matter reached the Union home ministry in June last year, there was no word on whether or not it would approve Mr Ravindra’s deputation. Subsequently, the matter went into cold storage.

For Mr Ravindra, it turned out to be a major embarrassment as he had taken a month’s leave and was camping in Vijayawada, waiting for the Centre’s nod. He kept extending his leave and spent more than 45 days in the AP capital waiting for the orders. Thereafter, he was forced to return to Telangana state.