Leadership vacuum makes cops jittery in AP

By M H Ahssan

The tale doing the rounds is that about two months ago when additional director general of intelligence Aravind Rao dropped in impromptu to meet with director general of police S S P Yadav, the latter rebuked the intelligence chief for entering his room without appointment. “Wait outside till I call you or something to that effect is what Yadav is believed to have told Rao, but nothing much has been heard about the incident because the latter chose to keep mum. In a variation of this incident DIG (Vizag Range) Soumya Mishra asked SP of Srikakulam Ch Shrikant to wait outside her room when he came late for a call last fortnight. This has now resulted in a case and the issue has also reached the High Court.

“Things have come to such a pass because of lack of proper leadership in the force which could not get the two officers together and settle the minor issue in matter of minutes. Now the entire force has become a laughing stock. The top cops have to take the flak for this,” a senior cop proffered.

Intra-police rivalry has intensified sharply in the last few months with Yadav and Aravind Rao continually trying to outdo each other. Both the officers are reputedly close to the powers that be with Yadav who is not even empanelled for the position of IG in central police forces making it to the top post after superseding others. On the other hand Rao, though only additional director general has direct access to the CM. “But the open tension between the two became so acute that they had to be advised separately by the powers-that-be to hold their horses,” a senior cop said. But a direct fallout of this rivalry has been a split in the ranks of copdom down the middle with efficiency also been hit. Insiders point out that police transfers could not take place because Yadav and Aravind Rao would present their own list of names, which would be greatly at variance.

Other than being locked in battle with a junior (Aravind Rao), Yadav is also known for shooting off his mouth. A good example is the statement attributed to him last week praising the CM for making a record number of appointments at the level of constables — utterances that have landed him in the dock. “A good officer should not only be impartial, he should be seen to be so. This is more so when elections are on. May be in his mind Yadav thinks he is impartial but in actions he is seen as heavily leaning towards the ruling party,” a senior police officer said. “How can you expect the opposition parties to have faith in him?” the officer asked.

The TDP in its petition to the chief electoral officer seeking Yadav’s removal has mentioned a number of instances which they feel make him unfit to hold the post of DG. The petition not only questions his biases but also questions his competence. Police analysts point out that Yadav was for a large part of his career on the loopline because of his controversial reputation. They point out that Yadav was given the Police Medal in 2001, a decade after his batchmates got the medal. “This medal is virtually awarded on seniority. So if Yadav got it so late, it means that his annual confidential reports were not too great,” said a senior cop. Yadav, meanwhile, has clarified to the chief electoral officer that he is not biased and that in the case of his praising the CM he had been quoted out of context.