A senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, known for his blatant and unflinching loyalty towards the ruling YSR Congress party, is said to be eyeing the Amalapuram Lok Sabha constituency in the coming general elections in Andhra Pradesh.
This constituency is reserved for Scheduled Castes and this particular IPS officer also hails from the same community with Christian faith.
At present, the constituency is being represented by YSRCP MP Chinta Anuradha, who defeated Harish Mathur of Telugu Desam Party, who happens to be son of former Lok Sabha speaker G M C Balayogi.
This time, the TDP is likely to field Harish again, while the YSRCP is said to be contemplating changing the candidate, replacing Anuradha with another suitable candidate.
Here enters the IPS officer, who is said to be interested in fighting the Lok Sabha elections from Amalapuram on YSRCP ticket.
According to sources, this officer is getting the surveys done to see whether he has any chances of winning the seat.
It is learnt that he has engaged a team of subordinates working under him in the police department to undertake the survey.
If there is any positive signals in the survey, he wants to apply for voluntary retirement from service and contest the Lok Sabha elections on YSRCP ticket.
Apparently, this IPS officer is also simultaneously lobbying with the YSRCP high command.
Though it is not immediately known what is there in the mind of party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, but his followers say so far, there are positive signals from him from the party.
To be on the record, this IPS officer shot into national news three years ago by arresting rebel YSR Congress party MP K Raghu Ramakrishnam Raju and allegedly torturing him in the police custody.
The rebel MP made several complaints against this IPS officer with the courts as well as the Central government.
Not just Raju, this IPS officer who was in key post in the Crime Investigation Department targeted several TDP leaders, as per the directions of the Tadepalli and incurred the wrath of the opposition parties.
Though he was a trusted lieutenant of Jagan, this IPS officer was suddenly shifted from the CID and shunted to insignificant post later. Now, he is enjoying leisure in the new post and being a writer, he has ample time to write books.
Because of this leisure, this officer has now started evincing interest in politics. It would be interesting to see whether he would get the opportunity.