Kishore Chandra, Reddi in race for Karnataka police chief's post

With Director General and Inspector General of Police Rupak Kumar Dutta set to retire on October 31, the race for his successor has begun.

Three top IPS officers eligible for the post are DGP (Fire & Emergency Services, Home Guards, Civil Defence and State Disaster Response Force-SDRF) Neelamani N Raju (1983 batch), DGP (Criminal Investigation Department) H C Kishore Chandra and DGP (Anti Corruption Bureau) M N Reddi (both 1984 batch).

The change of guard is likely to be smooth as the government has decided to avert recurrence of any embarrassment at the time of appointing the new head of the state police force, said sources in the Home Department.

With Neelamani favouring a posting in the Central government, the race has narrowed down to the two batchmates, Kishore Chandra and Reddi.

“Karnataka won’t see a woman DGP as Neelamani is likely to be appointed as DG (NHRC) ,” stated a top IPS officer.

She felt let down after the government preferred Dutta for the top post in 2016. Soon after Dutta’s appointment, she submitted a representation to the state government expressing her willingness for a Central assignment.

“The representation has been forwarded to the Union government and the Centre may appoint her as DG (NHRC),” the officer stated.

The government may not pick her as she has not served in Karnataka for long. She was away from the state for 23 years and the government may not take the risk of considering her for the post when the elections are round the corner, sources said.

Reddi, who started his career as as SP of KGF and Mandya districts, went on to become Bengaluru Police Commissioner and DGP (Intelligence). He improved the the IT city police’s  image by using social media platforms effectively. Reddi has backing of an influential minister from Bengaluru city. He also shares cordial relations with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and many of his Cabinet colleagues, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Vokkaliga MLAs in the Congress are mounting pressure on the chief minister to appoint Kishore Chandra, who hails from the community. “If appointed, he will be the first officer from the dominant Vokkaliga community to be DG&IGP,” said an officer.

Kishore Chandra belongs to chief minister’s home district of Mysuru and by appointing him Siddaramaiah can win the hearts of the Vokkaligas ahead of the polls, said sources.