Khaki to khadi shift continues

AHMEDABAD: They served in the state police in careers spanning around three decades and now want to move from khaki to khadi.
Retired cops have set their sights on the political arena. While a few of retired cops have already made their political ambitions clear, a few more hope to contest this elections from their native place and have joined political parties.
The latest entrant to this arena is M D Chaudhari, former ACP of Ahmedabad crime branch.Chaudhari put on the saffron scarf on Monday and has submitted his resume, hoping for a ticket from Kheralu constituency. This assembly seat is currently with the BJP.“I have been in public life for long and I believe this new platform will help me serve the people of the area in a new capacity,” Chaudhari told TOI.Former IPS officer Kuldeep Sharma joined the Congress two years ago and another IPS officer, Rahul Sharma, has floated an independent party. Both are unlikely to contest the assembly election, sources said. Sharma, however, has been tasked with strengthening the party at the grassroots. Two other former IAS officers, Rajan Priyadarshi and V V Rabari, are office bearers in the Congress.
S M Katara, another former IPS officer, is set to join the BJP ahead of the elections. He hopes to get the ticket for Bhiloda, an ST reserved seat. The Congress currently holds the Bhiloda seat.
“I have been doing social work in education and eradication of addiction after my retirement. When we started working at the village level, I was prodded by locals to provide leadership and thus decided to join politics to reach out to larger masses,” said Katara.
Sources said another IPS officer, who retired recently, is also in talks with the BJP. Cops however have not done well in politics, observers say, with exception of Jaspal Singh who became a minister in the state government. At the moment, A I Saiyad is chairman of the state wakf board. He is a former police officer.