Ex-civil servants, retired cops join Prashant Kishor’s corner: Boost for poll strategist’s ‘Jan Suraaj’ campaign

The former IPS officers who joined the campaign on Sunday are former Chhattisgarh Director General of Police (DGP) S K Paswan, retired Bihar Inspector General of Police (Home Guards) Jitendra Mishra, retired Deputy Inspector General (DIG) K B Singh, retired Inspector General (IG) Umesh Singh, retired DIG Anil Singh, Shiva Kumar Jha who is also a former DIG, retired IG Ashok Kumar Singh, former DGP Rakesh Kumar Mishra, and former IPS officers C P Kiran, Mohammed Rahman Momin, Shanker Jha, and Dilip Mishra.

Earlier, former state Cabinet Special Secretary Ajay Kumar Dwivedi, former Secretary Arvind Kumar Singh, former Purnia Commissioner Lalan Yadav, retired Betia Raj administrator Tulsi Kumar, former Joint Secretary for Health Suresh Sharma, and former Joint Secretary for the Rural Works Department Gopal Narayan Singh had joined Kishor.

These officers, however, do not have specified roles. A functionary of the “Jan Suraaj” campaign said, “At present, the focus is the padayatra. But eminent people joining the campaign has emboldened the campaign and all these people will have an important role to play in times to come.” In an interview to The Indian Express before starting the padayatra last October, Kishor said, “We will announce the party soon after the padayatra. I have already announced that I will not lead it. I will neither be elected nor selected. But it will have a leader who will be selected from among its workers …”

Anil Singh said, “The idea of ‘suraaj (good governance)’ of Mahatma Gandhi is far from being realised because of the dynastic element in politics. The politics of today means corruption. We have joined Prashant Kishor to realise the forgotten dreams of ‘suraaj’.”

Said Paswan, “Joiming Jan Suraaj feels like a dream. I want to help Kishor realise the dream.”

Rakesh Kumar Mishra said, “People will be wondering what former bureaucrats want to prove by joining Jan Suraaj. Let me remind people when the Indian freedom struggle started, a lot of intellectuals also joined the movement. We want to bring change in the current system by joining Kishor.”

While Kishor did not issue any public statement on the new joinings, sources close to him said the poll strategist had pointed out that it was for the first time that a dozen former police officers had joined a political outfit’s campaign. Earlier, Kishor said at least 200 former IAS and IPS officers and serving professionals were in touch with the “Jan Suraaj” campaign.

Former TN DGP joins RJD

Meanwhile, retired IPS officer and former Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) Karuna Sagar has joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The former police officer joined the party in Patna on Sunday in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav.

“We are very happy and honoured that Karuna Sagar ji has joined us. He will further strengthen the party with his rich experience in policing and administration. Bihar needs leadership like Tejaswi who has progressive thinking. I joined the RJD because I am deeply influenced by Lalu Prasad’s ideology.”