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Former Bengaluru police commissioner resigns, to join AAP today
Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia will induct Rao, whose resignation on Friday from the Indian Police Service, was accepted by the Karnataka government.
Bengaluru Former Bengaluru city police commissioner Bhaskar Rao will join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi on Monday as the Arvind Kejriwal-led party plans political expansion in Karnataka that goes to the polls next year.
Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia will induct Rao, whose resignation on Friday from the Indian Police Service (IPS), was accepted by the Karnataka government. Rao had handed a voluntary retirement application to Karnataka chief secretary P Ravi Kumar on personal grounds.
“The (AAP) leaders will induct and welcome ex-IPS officer Shri Bhaskar Rao (former ADG of Karnataka) and his supporters into the party,” according to an invite by Prithvi Reddy, AAP state convener and national executive member.
The statements come at a time when the AAP has been trying to mobilise support in Bengaluru which is expected to head to the council polls later this year.
“It (joining AAP) is not election specific,” Rao told HT on Sunday. “BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, the city’s civic body) elections, I don’t know when they are going to be held and looks like it may not be held. This (joining AAP) will be for the activities of the party,” Rao added.
The AAP on March 20 in Benglauru managed to raise at least ₹28,00,000 funds from donors and others to bankroll the outfit’s ambitions to contest and leave a mark in the Bengaluru city corporation elections.
According to people aware of the developments, there were at least 140 people in attendance at the lunch called “AAP-Rising” and many more who did donate but were unable to make it in person for the fund-raiser lunch at Bengaluru’s Chancery Pavilion in upscale Lavelle Road.
“We can see change since March 10 after the Punjab elections. Something has flipped in people’s minds here in Bengaluru. It is wonderful to see. I think they have confidence that we can win handsomely. I think they were looking for an alternative,” Prakash Nedungadi, the vice president of AAP’s outreach programme, told HT on March 20.
Buoyed by the success it witnessed in Punjab elections on March 10, the AAP has reset its sights on capturing the urban vote in Bengaluru, a city that has gained international notoriety for its poor quality of garbage mismanagement, toxic lakes, encroachments, pot-hole laden roads, making every day a struggle for its 12 million residents.
While the city is also known for its prowess in Information Technology and Startups among other sectors, the quality of life in one of India’s biggest growth centres appears to be on the decline on account of corruption, mal-administration, lack of planning among other requirements.
The session was used for the donors and potential candidates to interact on ideas each other had to resolve teething issues facing Bengaluru.
