IPS rivals try to scuttle Stephen Ravindra’s AP stint

Hyderabad: A small group of IPS officers in Andhra Pradesh is said to be using all its clout in New Delhi to prevent the Centre from giving approval for the inter-cadre deputation of senior IPS officer Stephen Ravindra so as to scuttle his chances of taking over as the Intelligence chief at Amaravati.

While the file concerning Mr Ravindra’s inter cadre deputation is under consideration in the Union ministry of home affairs and AP government officials say that approval will come shortly, the intra-IPS rivalry that seems to be at play is reportedly causing the delay.

It has been close to 40 days since Mr Ravindra’s file was sent to the MHA after Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy gave their consent for the inter-cadre deputation of Mr Ravindra, a 1999 batch IPS officer of the Telangana state cadre.

Sources told Deccan Chronicle that some officers were silently pulling strings at the Centre to scuttle Mr Ravindra’s chances. A few of them had even visited Delhi a couple of times and were spotted in the offices of powerful politicos and bureaucrats, though they had no official business there.

While it is widely believed that Mr Ravindra taking over as Intelligence chief would be a shot in the arm for the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, what with his impeccable track record of being a no-nonsense officer and a thorough professional, a set of officers believes that with his taking over could be troublesome for them as many of their “secrets” will be out.

“They feel that any other IPS officer in place of Mr Ravindra is better and he will go about his work in a professional manner without favouring anyone. No one is sure as to whether this set of officers will succeed in what they are doing,” said one official adding that Mr Reddy had immense trust in the IPS officer and had therefore picked him for the job.

As for Mr Ravindra, those who know the officer well, say that he has set his priorities. Once he takes over, a massive revamp of the Intelligence wing is on the cards besides finetuning of the feedback mechanism. This is crucial for any state government which relies heavily on the intelligence wing for all sorts of information, particularly political feedback.

When contacted, a senior official in Delhi said that approval for Mr Ravindra will come soon as both Chief Ministers had given consent. “It is purely an administrative delay,” he said without going into detail.

Last month, when he had called on BJP president and Union home minister Amit Shah, the AP CM is understood to have taken up Mr Ravindra’s case. Mr Shah reportedly responded positively. The approval for his inter-cadre deputation has to come from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.