As the race for the Telangana DGP post enters the final round, the senior-most IPS officer, C.V. Anand (IPS:1991:TG), has emerged as the frontrunner. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is holding the empanelment committee meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday to recommend a panel of three IPS officers. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy will pick one of them as the new chief of the state police.
The appointment of a new DGP has been necessitated as the acting DGP, B. Shivadhar Reddy (IPS:1994:TG), is going to retire next month.
The UPSC had been given a four-week deadline to complete the process of recommending three names to the state government by the Supreme Court in its ruling on Feb 5.
State Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao is believed to have deputed the Resident Commissioner to attend the meeting on his behalf due to the swearing-in ceremony of Shiv Pratap Shukla as the new Telangana Governor.
According to official sources, the Telangana govt had submitted a list of five top IPS officers—C.V. Anand, Vinay Prabhakar Apte (IPS:1994:TG), Soumya Mishra (IPS:1994:TG), Shikha Goel (IPS:1994:TG) and Abhilasha Bist (IPS:1994:TG)—to the UPSC for shortlisting three names. As Apte, currently posted as Joint Director of the Intelligence Bureau, has been staying out of the state for most of his service, his name is unlikely to be included in the panel of three. Thus, CV Anand, Soumya Mishra, and Shikha Goel will be left in the race.
Despite being the most senior IPS officer of the state, another potent reason for Anand being touted as a frontrunner is that he has served mostly in the state throughout his career. Besides having served as Hyderabad Police Commissioner twice, he also headed the Cyberabad police. Added to it, Anand has sufficient work experience in the region that will be the government’s growth engine as part of Telangana Rising 2047.
Another factor in favour of Anand’s suitability for the role is his belonging to the powerful Reddy community, and also he enjoys cordial relations with all social groups and political parties in the state that will help him run the show effectively. Plus age is on his side as Anand will be in service till May 2028.
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