Bengaluru: Four years ago on August 31, Mr M. Kempaiah was relieved from the Indian Police Service by the then BJP-led government after he opted for voluntary retirement following an arguement with the then police chief in a senior officers’ meeting in the DG&IGP’s office. On Friday - August 1, the Congress government appointed him as the advisor to Home Minister K. J. George and accorded him a Minister of State rank.
It is widely known that the retired IPS officer of 1981 batch has been a close confidante of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and has been advising him on matters related to Home department. According to sources, he reportedly even supervised the Chief Minister’s election campaign in Mysore during last year’s Assembly elections.
“He has been Mr Siddaramaiah’s confidante for the last 15 years and he trusts him implicitly. The Chief Minister likes Kempaiah’s brand - tough looks, tough talks and no-nonsense attitude. He has earlier served as the commissioner Mysore and inspector general of police, Southern range, which is the Chief Minister’s constituency. Besides he is of the same caste as the CM,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.
“He has worked with the largest number of IPS probationers in the State, who are now senior officers,” said another IPS officer. Known as a hands-on cop, Mr Kempaiah is well respected in the Karnataka police for his professional competence, commitment and passion for taking tough assignments. In August 1991 as the then deputy commissioner of police (Bengaluru, East) he had led the raid in the house in Konankunte in Bengaluru, where former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins and cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Shubha and Sivarasan along with six other LTTE members were holed up.
“We could have got them alive if I had not called my commissioner, who asked me to wait for the special investigation team,” Mr Kempaiah had told this newspaper in an exclusive interview in May 2011 – a charge, which was stoutly denied by the SIT chief D.R. Karthikeyan. ‘It may upset balance’
While majority of the senior IPS officers have welcomed Mr Kempaiah’s ‘official’ appointment as advisor to the Home Minister, a section of them
feel that his appointment may “upset” the balance in the strictly hierarchical uniformed force.
“The incumbent DG&IGP is from the 1977 batch of IPS and Mr Kempaiah is of the 1981 batch. He has been brought in to improve the image of the police force in the City and State, which has taken a beating of late,” said an officer on condition of anonymity. Another officer said that retired IAS officers have been routinely appointed as advisors to the government without any controversy.
“Why is there a controversy in Mr Kempaiah’s appointment then?” he asked.
