As five states go to poll in the next few days and Parliamentary Elections 2024 are also not very far off, once again, few names of bureaucrats are doing the rounds as probables who might take the plunge into politics after resigning from service.
This happens before every elections. There are some officers who have not only joined but have also created a big impact in the political field. Most state assemblies in the country have such MLAs and even the present Union government has such members in the Cabinet, like Hardeep Singh Puri and RK Singh. Similarly, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is a former IRS officer who formed the political party AAP.
Indian Masterminds brings you the stories of few active politicians of recent times who were earlier in bureaucracy.
RS PRAVEEN KUMAR
Telangana is an election bound state which will go to poll on 30 November. But one name is the talk of the town there, and that name is RS Praveen Kumar, an IPS officer of 1995 batch, who resigned from his service in 2021 and joined Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He served as the secretary of Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) and Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society. He is known for his work in the upliftment of marginalized students as the Secretary of TSWREIS. He is a member of the Scheduled Caste (Madiga) community.
After joining BSP, Mr. Kumar said that it is time for Dalits and Bahujans to strive to achieve political power in the state. He has also been working on bridging the gap between the SC sub-castes of Mala and Madiga in Telangana since joining BSP. The Madigas, for many years, have been demanding SC classification on the grounds that Mala is enjoying the benefits.
A graduate in veterinary science, Mr. Kumar did his Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School under an Edward S Mason fellowship. In July this year, President’s Police Medal winner Kumar surprised everyone when he announced his candidature from Sirpur for the Telangana Assembly elections 2023.
K ANNAMALAI
As of now, the name Kuppusamy Annamalai is synonymous with BJP in Tamil Nadu. How important he is for BJP in the state, can be gauged from the fact that BJP broke their alliance with AIADMK, the main opposition party, for him.
An IPS officer of 2011 batch of Karnataka cadre, Mr. Annamalai took VRS in 2019 and joined BJP. Within a year, BJP made him the party president in Tamil Nadu. Since then, Mr. Annamalai has been continuously engaging in building the party in this state. His entire focus has been on defeating the opponents and bringing about regime change.
An engineering graduate and postgraduate from IIM Lucknow, Mr. Annamalai had his first bureaucratic posting as ASP in 2013 and then took charge as SP Udupi in Chikamagaluru, Karnataka. The 39 year old was very famous for his integrity while in service. People said at that time that it is not only difficult but impossible to find such an honest officer.
SASIKANTH SENTHIL
An IAS officer of 2009 batch of Karnataka cadre, Mr. Sasikanth Senthil made the pivotal decision to resign from civil service in 2019, while serving as a Deputy Commissioner (DC) in the communally sensitive Dakshina Kannada district. At that time, he stated that it was “unethical” for him to continue in his line of duty “as a civil servant in the government when the fundamental building blocks of our diverse democracy are being compromised in an unprecedented manner.”
Later, he joined the Congress party and was subsequently designated as the chairperson of the Congress war room in Karnataka. He played a key role in formulating the narrative against the BJP government over many issues.
He originally hails from Tamil Nadu. In poll bound Rajasthan, he has been appointed as the Chairman of the Central War Room of Congress. It is being said that Mr. Senthil is likely to head the Tamil Nadu unit of the party soon.
O P CHOUDHARY
Mr. O. P. Choudhary, a 2005-batch IAS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, resigned from service in 2018 and joined the BJP.
It is said that when he was working as the Collector of insurgency-hit Dantewada and Raipur, the then Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh was impressed by his working style and invited Mr. Choudhary to politics.
After taking the plunge, the young officer once said that he joined politics because he wanted to do something different. He is contesting from Raigarh constituency which is going to poll on this 17 November.
Mr. Choudhary is also looked at as the probable CM face of BJP in the coming years by political experts, although he lost the election in 2018 from Kharsia, his home town.
ASIM ARUN
1994 batch IPS officer and former commissioner of police of Kanpur Nagar, Asim Arun, made a tryst with history by becoming the first direct Indian Police Services officer to find a place in the Council of Ministers of Uttar Pradesh. He was sworn in as a Minister of State with independent charge in the Yogi Adityanath Government’s council of Ministers which assumed charge for a second consecutive term in 2022.
A graduate in Science from the prestigious St. Stephen’s College, Mr. Arun resigned from service and took VRS in January 2022. He joined BJP and got the ticket from the high profile Kannauj Sadar seat and became an MLA. Kannauj is also his home town.
He is Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Social Welfare in the present Yogi Adityanath ministry.
Mr. Arun is the second Dalit (Jatav) officer from the elite IPS cadre who was given prominence by the BJP and made a minister.
Earlier, Mr. Arun’s mentor and former UP DGP Brij Lal, also a Dalit officer, had joined the BJP soon after his retirement and was made a Rajya Sabha member by the saffron outfit. In 1996 too, a police sub-inspector, Satya Pal Singh Baghel, had quit his job to join politics and had gone on to become a four-time MP.
Like Mr. Arun, another 1980-batch IPS officer and former Mumbai Police Commissioner, Satya Pal Singh, had opted for voluntary retirement and is a two-time MP from Baghpat and has found a place in the council of ministers at the Centre.
SHAH FAESAL
An IAS officer of 2011 batch and topper of UPSC CSE 2010, Shah Faesal’s case is like the curious case of Benjamin Button. He resigned from service in 2019 and created a political outfit, but later in 2022, he again joined back service and left politics.
He left bureaucracy in January 2019 citing “rising intolerance” in the country. After three years, he posted on social media that he is excited to make a new beginning again. Then he applied to join the IAS again and the Central Government approved it. And now after a few months, he has also been given a big responsibility. The Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) reinstated Mr. Faesal in August 2022 and posted him as Deputy Secretary in the Union Tourism Ministry.
On 4 February 2019, Mr. Faesal started his transient political career by giving a public speech in his hometown Kupwara. Shortly after, he announced his own political party, Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement (JKPM). But in August 2020, he quit politics and left JKPM as well.
RAJESHWAR SINGH
In UP assembly elections 2022, a former state police officer won Lucknow’s high profile seat Sarojini Nagar on BJP ticket. While in service, he had launched investigations against top political leaders of the country including a former Union Home Minister. Known as the ‘encounter specialist’, his name was synonymous with fear among criminals during his deployment in Lucknow and Prayagraj in UP. When he went on deputation to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), he exposed big scams such as 2G scam and coal block allocation.
He is Mr. Rajeshwar Singh, and he is now an MLA in the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh. 1997-batch Provincial Police Service (PPS) officer Rajeshwar Singh took VRS to contest the election, after 24 years in service, when he still had 11 years of service left.
He was working as the Joint Director of ED Lucknow Zone at the time of applying for VRS. 50 year old Singh is a native of Pakhrauli in Sultanpur district of UP. He comes from a distinguished family of bureaucrats. His father, Late Ran Bahadur Singh, had retired from the post of DIG from UP Police and also received the President’s Gallantry Medal.
After passing 12th from Colvin Taluqdars’ College, Rajeshwar Singh did his graduation in engineering from Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. He also has a degree in Law and Human Rights. Later, he completed his PhD too.
His wife Laxmi Singh is an IPS officer and is currently posted as Police Chief in Noida. His younger sister Meenakshi Singh is an Income Tax Commissioner. His elder brother-in-law Yogesh Pratap Singh is an ex IPS officer and is practicing in Mumbai High Court. Younger brother-in-law Rajiv Krishna is posted as ADG in UP Police. Recently, his niece Isha Singh has also started her IPS journey after cracking UPSC 2021.
NISHA BANGRE
She is a 2016 batch Madhya Pradesh PCS officer. She took the charge of DSP in MP in the year 2016. After this, she was selected for the post of Deputy Collector in 2017, and got posted in Amla area of Betul. Before resigning, Nisha Bangre was SDM in Lavkush Nagar of Chhatarpur district. After she resigned from her post, she has remained in news as her resignation was not being accepted. However, Ms. Nisha approached the court and finally got relief after the intervention of the High Court. On the orders of the Court, the state government accepted her resignation letter after a long time. Besides this, the departmental inquiry against her has also been ended.
Ms. Nisha was born in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. She completed her engineering in 2014. After this, she started working in a multinational company in Gurugram. Meanwhile, her inclination started increasing towards civil service. Rumours were rife that Congress would field her from the Amla seat. However, the party has now declared some other candidate for this constituency.
