Ex-IPS officer gets nod from Mayawati to join BSP

Senior IPS officer R.S. Praveen Kumar, who has taken voluntary retirement from service, is likely to join the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and lead the party in Telangana state in the coming days.

According to reliable sources, Kumar had met Mayawati, BSP president and Uttar Pradesh former chief minister, in the second week of July in Lucknow and discussed politics in Telangana state and his political entry.

It is learnt that Kumar got clearance from Mayawati for his joining the BSP and leading the party in the state. It is said that Kumar decided to take voluntary retirement only after meeting with Mayawati. This is being seen as the right time to join politics as the Assembly elections are just over two years away. Kumar is said to be inspired by Kanshi Ram’s politics, which brought political power to the Bahujans in Uttar Pradesh, and wanted to replicate them in Telangana state. He strongly feels that the political and social situation are in favour of Bahujan politics in the state.

Kumar has a social base in the form of Swaeroes and their families across the Telugu states, and wants to convert this to a political base and attract social groups and downtrodden sections.

It is said that that the BSP leadership is happy over Kumar joining the party since they feel that his entry will boost the party's fortunes.

Kumar has been visiting temples of local deities for some time to develop an emotional attachment with the Dalit, BC, and ST communities.

On Tuesday, Kumar performed special puja to the Nagoba deity at Keslapur. He said that he “will neither be sold nor would he sell himself ( Ammudu podu ... Ammadu).” He was referring to his planned entry into politics, and reports that he would contest the Huzurabad byelection as the TRS candidate.

Kumar termed the news as “fake and totally wrong”. He said resigned not on the advice of anyone. “Politics in the state will be very interesting in future,” he said cryptically.

Kumar said he took voluntary retirement in order to devote his time for empowerment of 99 per cent of the people, and added that he had worked for “the other 1 per cent” of people while being in service.