THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As a bureaucratic reshuffle is on the cards ahead of the assembly elections, hectic lobbying is on for top police posts which will become vacant soon. The North Indian lobby of IPS officers in the state police force is pulling the strings for ADGP Sudesh Kumar, who is likely to be promoted as DGP by this month end, for the post of the state police chief. Sudesh Kumar has also the blessings of current State Police Chief Loknath Behera who is expected to step down next month.
The intense lobbying for the top post was evident in some of the recent transfers in the police force. Recently, a staffer from ‘T’ (confidential) branch was transferred to an insignificant branch in the police headquarters for allegedly leaking a copy of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the police department to a top cop who is in the race to become the state police chief. It is learnt that the North Indian lobby was behind the transfer of the staffer as the CAG report had some critical comments against Behera.
In fact, DGP Tomin J Thachankary, who was recently promoted to the rank of DGP, is the frontrunner for the post of the state police chief as he is considered to be very close to the Left government. When the bad blood between former state police chief T P Senkumar and the state government reached a flash point in 2017, Thachankary was given the charge of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Administration, by the state government to take control of the state police headquarters.
“But the North Indian lobby favours vigilance director Sudesh over Thachankary although that latter is senior. Thachankary, Sudesh and Special Protection Group director Arun Kumar Sinha, who is on central deputation, are 1987 batch IPS officers. Of them, Sinha is the senior most and Sudesh Kumar the most junior. But Sinha is unlikely to come back to Kerala. Though DGP Rishiraj Singh and DGP R Sreelekha are senior to Thachankary, they would not be considered for the post as the former retires from service in July 2021 and the latter this month,” said a top source in the state government.
Behera as CIC?
It is learnt that Behera would be considered for the post of Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) when he steps down as the post has been lying vacant after Vinson M Paul retired. The State Election Commission has already begun an informal discussion with the state government to replace senior bureaucrats who have completed their three-year terms in office ahead of the assembly elections as part of the Election Commission of India (ECI) guidelines.