Karnataka cops doff khaki to don khadi

Three top policemen from Bangalore resigned this week to take the plunge into politics

BANGLORE: The assembly elections are here and some power-hungry policemen in the state have set sail on a unique journey – from khaki to khadi.

Three Bangalore top cops resigned on Monday to take the plunge. While the police department and politicians alike term it a seasonal trend, high-ranking cops are definitely in demand in political circles for their contacts and authority.

Assistant commissioner of police (organised crime) BK Shivram is the latest to join the bandwagon. “All political parties have approached me. I have been interested in social work for the last 10 years and see politics as a platform to continue serving the public,” the officer who was due to retire in five years says.

“I am planning to contest from either the Gandhinagar or Malleshwaram constituency in Bangalore,” he adds.

MD Divakar and K Ajanna are the other two officers to resign. In the past, many officers, including those of IPS rank, have joined politics, with former Bangalore police commissioners HT Sangliana and P Kodandaramahaiah and state director general of police T Srinivasulu finding moderate success.

Bangalore’s super cop and now Member of Parliament from North Bangalore, Sangliana, says his urge to fight corruption brought him to politics. “I was approached by the Bharatiya Janata Party to contest from Bangalore North six months after I retired. I thought I could continue to serve society this way and took the plunge. After all you have more power as a minister than as a police officer.”

The police department, however, refuses to buy the “social work” plank.
“It is their proximity to politicians and ambition to rise to a higher powerful position. Once they are sure of a ticket, they quit,” says a senior Karnataka cadre police officer.

k_bhargavi@dnaindia.net