A policeman in Raj Bhavan

When Uttar Pradesh Governor T V Rajeswar criticised the Mayawati Government over the 8220;frequent transfers8221; in her regime...

When Uttar Pradesh Governor T V Rajeswar criticised the Mayawati Government over the 8220;frequent transfers8221; in her regime, saying hers was no better than the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav government, not many in the state were surprised.

While it may have been the first time Rajeswar targeted Mayawati since she took over as the Chief Minister, the country8217;s first-ever IPS officer to become a Governor had a history of run-ins with her predecessor Mulayam. His outspoken positions on various issues 8212; which critics said often crossed the line of decorum for a governor, and the Samajwadi Party called 8220;unconstitutional8221; 8212; put him in confrontation with the Government.

It was on May 21, 2007, that Rajeswar 8212; during an address to the Assembly and while elaborating upon the priorities of the newly installed BSP Government in the state 8212; first vowed to root out corruption in civil service transfers and postings.

A year and four months later, on September 21, 2008 8212; while addressing a conference of governors in New Delhi 8212; he spoke out against successive state governments frequently transferring bureaucrats, giving the example of a district magistrate who had been shifted 27 times in his 10-year service.

He raised many an eyebrow when he went on to criticise the present Government of committing serious irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA and added, 8220;The Mayawati Government is no less than the Mulayam government.8221;

A 1947 post-graduate in Economics from Presidency College, Madras University, Rajeswar joined the Indian Police Service in 1949 and was posted in his home state Andhra Pradesh. In 1962, he joined the Intelligence Bureau as an assistant director and served in Sikkim and Bhutan during 1963-67 as an officer on special duty OSD and advisor, respectively.

After serving as deputy director and joint director at the IB headquarters for over a decade, Rajeswar was promoted as IB director in February 1980 and held the post for three years. He was posted as Lt Governor of Arunachal Pradesh in August 1983.

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In July 2004, the UPA Government replaced Vishnu Kant Shastri with Rajeswar as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. The then state Government under Mulayam very often found him a tough customer to deal with, whether it was the issue of Maulana Ali Jauhar University or the rechristening of Lucknow University as Chandra Bhanu Gupta University.

Always forthright, he talked about the rampant 8220;gun culture8221; in UP and castigated the state police for their illegal activities in connection with 8220;land and house grabbing8221;. He even took a swipe at Amitabh Bachchan when the latter, featuring in an election commercial of the Samajwadi Party, said: 8220;UP mein hai dum kyonki zurm yahan hai kum UP is the ideal state with crime rate being low8221;.

Rajeswar called the advertisement saying there is less crime in UP 8220;an insult inflicted on the people8221;and 8220;a crude joke8221;.

In July 2006, the Governor also took a serious note of the Mulayam Government8217;s stand on SIMI, which held that it was not a terrorist outfit. Rajeswar had dashed off a letter to Mulayam asking him to reconsider his Government8217;s decision to withdraw cases against SIMI activists involved in the 2001 Kanpur riots. He had also asked the then chief minister to allow the police a 8220;free hand8221; while investigating SIMI8217;s role in the Mumbai train blasts.