IPS, IAS officers eye LS polls
Former Home Secretary R.K. Singh and former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh have joined BJP.
Many current and former officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) are planning to contest the Lok Sabha elections, mostly on a BJP ticket.
A 1992-batch Punjab cadre officer of IG rank, Arun Oraon has applied for voluntary retirement as he plans to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Lohardaga in Jharkhand on a BJP ticket. His wife Geetashree Oraon is a Congress MLA and a minister in the Jharkhand Cabinet. Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Arun Oraon said, he has requested the Punjab government to relieve him by 10 March. Oraon has completed 27 years in service and his retirement is at least eight years away. “The presence of my family members in politics has inspired me to consider joining it. During my service, I spent about 14 years in Punjab and had numerous interactions with the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal. The BJP’s ideology impressed me,” he said.
Former Home Secretary R. K. Singh and former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh recently joined the BJP. While R.K. Singh wants to contest from Bihar, Satyapal Singh is keen on contesting from Uttar Pradesh. Former Petroleum Secretary R.S. Pandey, who joined BJP in December, is keen to contest from Supaul in Bihar.
In Trinamool Congress bastion of West Bengal, as many as five former DGPs, one former CBI joint director, one former chief electoral officer and one former additional chief secretary have joined the BJP. West Bengal BJP president Rahul Sinha, however, said that these former officers are ready to accept whatever role is given to them by the leadership.
Former IAS officer Arun Bhatia, who was the municipal commissioner of Pune in 1999, recently joined the Aam Aadmi Party and wants to contest elections. However, after being denied a ticket, Bhatia is all set to contest on his own. “I was assured by the AAP leadership that a ticket will be given to aspirants after getting a feedback from the ground. However, they unilaterally announced Subhash Ware’s name. Therefore, I would be contesting on my own from Pune,” he told this correspondent.
Uttam Khobragade, former IAS officer and father of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, has decided to contest from Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region. He has not made it clear as to which constituency or on which party’s ticket he would contest.
A Gujarat cadre IAS officer, D.K. Rao is likely to contest the election from Andhra Pradesh. Currently a member secretary in the Gujarat State Human Rights Commission, Rao has already resigned and wants his voluntary retirement to be cleared at the earliest. Rao’s father was close to former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. He wants to contest on a YSR Congress ticket. Former I AS officer Mukhtiar Singh and former DG Police of Jharkhand, V.D. Ram have joined the BJP and are eyeing the Daltonganj seat. Ram is in charge of the state’s Scheduled Caste Morcha. Mukhtiar Singh, however, joined early this month.
Posted in Delhi, Principal Resident Commissioner, Jharkhand Bhavan, Vimal Kirti Singh, has applied for voluntary retirement and wants to contest from Dhanbad. Singh, according to BJP sources, is in touch with Rajnath Singh and Narendra Modi.
Another IPS officer, Amitabh Chaudhary of Additional DGP rank, and former Indian cricket team manager, has taken voluntary retirement last year to join politics. Though he hasn’t formally joined the party yet, sources say he is planning to contest the elections from Ranchi on a BJP ticket. “In case, he fails to get BJP ticket, he can contest from a regional party,” said a source.
Interestingly, many bureaucrats recently joined BJP, though it is not clear whether they are keen to contest elections. These retired officers include former Permanent Representative to UN Hardeep Puri, former Additional Chief Secretary of West Bengal Radha Kanta Tripathy, former IPS officers Ajay Singh and B.L. Vohra. Former IAS officers Vishal Nath Rai and Rama Shankar Singh have joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the hope of getting ticket. main,” Jain told The Sunday Guardian on Saturday. The source also said, “An IPS officer of the rank of DGP is in touch with us. He is hurt after the state government denied him promotion to a top post. Another officer who is in charge of the security of an important national establishment too is keen to join us,” the source said.