Race for UP DGP hots up, will seniority prevail this time ?

Lucknow: Is Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh going to bypass the seniority to post new Director General of Police (DGP) from October one next ?

The post will lie vacant after the present UP DGP Sulkhan Singh, the 1980-batch IPS officer, superannuates on September 30. The next available senior-most officer in the state Pravin Singh, 1982-batch IPS, already ignored once when Javeed Ahmad, four batches junior, was appointed DGP by Akhilesh Yadav.

Pravin Singh may have to face same predicament this time also as several factors, other than seniority and merit, are likely to come into the play when the government appoints new DGP, if the present incumbent does not get extension which looks unlikely at the moment.

The names doing rounds in administrative as well as in political circles suggest thatYogi wants to post his favourite officer, though much junior, Bhavesh Kumar Singh, a 1987-batch IPS officer while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre desires a Brahamin incumbent to counter the former, what looks like. Another officer Pramod Kumar Tiwari ( 1986-batch) is also in the reckoning for the top police post of Uttar Pradesh.

Also Read: Yogi government transfers 29 IPS officers in Uttar Pradesh

The name of another officer Rajnikant Mishra (1984-batch) is also in the circulation though he has recently been posted as DG of Shastra Seema Bal (SSB).

According to government insiders, generally Chief Minister Yogi has been a stickler to seniority norms but this time other considerations may overshadow his decision-making when it comes to posting new DGP of UP.