THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the UDF returning to power after 10 years, key changes are expected in both police and bureaucratic ranks once the new government takes charge. While important police portfolios such as intelligence and law and order will see a change, a similar reshuffle of IAS officers is expected.
Officers such as N Prasanth, who has been under suspension since November 2024, and B Ashok, who was placed on suspension in April, are likely to make a return, sources said, adding that several retired bureaucrats considered close to the UDF and Congress would be brought to limelight and given responsibilities.
After LDF’s rout in the assembly polls, former civil servant K M Abraham stepped down as the CEO of Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board. Ashok had alleged that Abraham, along with some serving bureaucrats, had tried to ensure the LDF’s victory in the assembly polls.
Meanwhile, inquiries will be ordered against several IAS and IPS officers who had taken “contentious” decisions during the LDF rule, sources told TNIE. In such a case, they will be transferred from their posts. Similar rejig will be effected in middle and lower rungs of the police and bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, service outfits aligned with the UDF that were pushed to the fringes during the decade-long LDF rule have began asserting themselves, paving way for a potential showdown between the associations linked with the CPM and Congress. Dropping an inkling of things to come, five employees were transferred in the general education department on the basis of a representation by a state secretariat member of the Congress-aligned NGO Association.
The order, a copy of which is in public domain, by the senior administrative officer said the representation made by the NGO Association leader was the reason behind the transfer. The CPM leadership has already termed the transfer wrong.
Meanwhile, in police, where outward expression of political loyalty is not allowed, a section of cops attached with the AR Camp reportedly celebrated the UDF win by cutting a cake.
During the LDF rule, there were widespread allegations of politicisation of force and some transfers during its tenure were deemed political vendetta. With UDF sympathisers in police now openly flexing their muscle, the fissure within the force along political lines have now come to the fore.
