Ex-Bengaluru top cop joins AAP ahead of crucial polls

Former Bengaluru Police commissioner Bhaskar Rao, an Additional Director General (ADGP)-ranked official, had taken up voluntary retirement citing personal reasons, which was accepted by the Karnataka government on April 1.

Former Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao on Monday formally joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in presence of national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at his residence in New Delhi on Monday.

Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal being felicitated by former Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao in New Delhi on Monday. (ANI)

Though AAP is gearing up for the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, the city’s civic body) polls, its eyes are set on the 2023 assembly elections, with Rao hoping to secure a ticket from the constituency in Bengaluru south, people aware of the developments said.

Rao, an Additional Director General (ADGP)-ranked official, had taken up voluntary retirement citing personal reasons, which was accepted by the Karnataka government on April 1.

“In Karnataka, too, the common person wants some change because they have seen traditional parties. It is always said that people change, but the system remains the same, and this party has brought a change in that very system,” Rao said, after formally joining the party.

The statements come when AAP has been looking to expand its influence in other states after its thumping victory in Punjab earlier this year.

Rao said that Karnataka has been blessed with good water and all-natural resources, but there has been developed because of a “lack of leadership, especially clean leadership”, who? is using controversies to deflect attention away from pressing issues.

“The biggest problem in Karnataka is that the people have lost faith in the government. They have started feeling very isolated, and they are going away from the government. We need to bring the government closer to people, closer to their doorstep like in Delhi. If a private company like Amazon and Flipkart can do this, why can’t we?” Rao said.

AAP has been trying to raise funds and attract more people into its fold. In March, the party managed to raise at least ₹2,800,000 funds from donors and others to bankroll the outfit’s ambitions to contest and leave a mark in the Bengaluru city corporation elections, which are likely to be held later this year.

AAP had contested around 28 seats in the 2018 Karnataka assembly elections but managed just 0.06% of the total votes and 0.55% of the votes from the seats it contested.

Meanwhile, SP, criminal investigation department, Ravi D Channannavar is also likely to enter politics, officials close to developments said. The recent cancellation of the officer’s transfer order had ignited reports that the withdrawal of the posting was a political reaction to the officer’s ambition to enter politics.

The reports around Channannavar joining politics began after the officer visited the national general secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) BL Santosh in August 2021. The pictures of the meeting led to speculations of him joining the saffron party, but the officer denied it.

However, in the next few months, the officer visited several prominent seers in the state, who are considered to be political influencers.

Coming from North Karnataka and the Valmiki community, which is a prominent Scheduled Tribe community, the officer’s appointment as the head of Valmiki Development Authority in January 2022 was considered a step towards creating a base within the community vote bank.

However, within hours of his transfer, the government cancelled the order.

“The order was cancelled because they feared that being the community would work in the officer’s favour to mobilise voters. Several leaders in the BJP thought he would hurt their prospects, so the order was cancelled,” said a home department official.

(With inputs from Arun Dev)