Within a day of him putting in his papers, the state government has accepted Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh’s application for voluntary retirement “with immediate effect”. Home minister RR Patil said Hemant Nagrale, who is currently the seniormost IPS officer in the commissionerate, has been asked to officiate in Singh’s place.
Nagrale, who is currently joint commissioner (administration), however, said he is still to get a written order asking him to take charge from Singh, who is likely to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket.
Since the BJP doesn’t have a safe constituency in Mumbai, Singh may shift to his home state, Uttar Pradesh, and contest from a seat where his caste members, Kshatriyas, are in sizable numbers. In any case, Singh doesn’t have any major achievements to his credit as Mumbai commissioner to warrant any mass support in the metropolis.
This development is likely to speed up the process of appointing a new police commissioner, which has been pending for more than eight months. The top three contenders for the coveted post are additional director general (ADG) Rakesh Maria, ADG (law and order) Ahmad Javed and ADG (highway traffic) Vijay Kamble.
Singh, a 1980 batch IPS officer, who was denying till Friday evening that he had any desire to quit and enter politics, later put in his papers. Former IPS officer YP Singh said that ideally Satyapal Singh should have waited for two years before taking on any assignment of a commercial or political nature. This is as per the service rules, he added.
Former commissioner Julio Ribeiro said, “Satyapal had always talked like a politician and I have been telling this to all my friends in the police. Hence, I am not in the least surprised that he has decided to join politics. There is nothing wrong with that.”
Officials said that in case the state had not accepted the resignation, Singh would have found it tough to join politics before the Lok Sabha polls, which are likely to be announced in February. This is because he would have had to serve a three-month notice period. The immediate acceptance of the resignation is also indicative of the government’s displeasure with him, sources said.
Future plans
Satyapal Singh is likely to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket. Since the BJP doesn’t have a safe constituency in Mumbai, Singh may shift to his home state, Uttar Pradesh, and contest from a seat where his caste members, Kshatriyas, are in sizable numbers. Officials said that had the state not accepted the resignation, Singh would have found it tough to join politics before the polls as he would have had to serve a three-month notice period.
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