Former Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) N Sambasiva Rao on Saturday triggered speculation that he would join the YSRCP after he met with party chief YS Jagan, who is presently on a state-wide padayatra.
While YSRCP leaders continued to maintain that he had evinced interest in joining the party, the retired IPS officer is yet to officially confirm the same, stating that it was just a courtesy call.
In a statement, the YSRCP said that if Rao joined, he would be the latest in a long line of civil servants who have joined the party after retiring from their posts, including Dr. Narashimhan, who served as the Joint Commissioner with the Commercial Taxes department under the Regional Vigilance & Enforcement wing.
Others who joined the party included retired IG Shaik Mohammed Iqbal and Susheel Kumar, a retired Superintendent besides Prembabu, another senior IPS officer who had retired.
It is also interesting to note that it was Sambasiva Rao, who granted permission to the YSRCP President for his scheduled walkathon, which was launched at Idupulapaya in Kadapa district on November 6, last year.
The nod was given after senior YSRCP leaders Ummareddi Venkateswarlu, Botsa Satyanarayana and KP Saradhi met Rao, who was the DGP at the time, at his Mangalagiri office and submitted a letter.
“As Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy has `Z+Category’ security, we will follow the protocol and provide security to him. Instructions have been given to the SPs of all the districts to beef security for the padayatra," the DGP was quoted as saying.
Jagan launched his six-month-long 'padyatra' or foot march in November last year, virtually kicking off his campaign for the 2019 assembly elections.
He said that he will cover 3,000 km across all 13 districts of the state to interact with people and know their problems.
Jagan hopes to recreate the magic of his late father YSR, who had launched a similar 'padyatra' to end nearly a decade-long rule of Chandrababu Naidu in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2004.
IANS inputs