In Congress-NCP rival, Mumbai waits for its Police Commissioner

Mumbai:  It’s been a week since Satyapal Singh quit as Mumbai Police Commissioner and joined the BJP, but the Maharashtra government hasn’t been able find his replacement.

Several top IPS officers have been shortlisted but Congress and NCP, which run the government in Maharashtra, just can’t seem to put their heads together and conclude.

“Why should it take so much time? It should happen in a matter of minutes. They have to meet and decide and it can be done. Many police officers are themselves playing politics and that is affecting the morale of the force and naturally the political parties are interested in posting a particular officer who will take care of their vested interests,” says former IPS officer Sudhakar Suradkar.

The problem as Mr Suradkar points out is in the choice of candidates. The Congress is keen to see Additional DG Ahmed Javed in the top position and their second choice is Additional DG Vijay Kamble who heads the traffic department. But the NCP is pushing for Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Rakesh Maria.

While both parties are lobbying for their preferred candidate, the NCP says the Chief Minister has to take the final call. “Why blame us? The decision has to be taken by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and he shouldn’t delay these decisions,” NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik clarified.

Mr Chavan, however, was non-committal and said it would be made public once the final choice was clear.

But the problem is much larger. It’s been over seven months since a major reshuffle in IPS postings in Maharashtra. And Mumbai will have to wait until the Congress and the NCP end their political squabbling.