Mangaluru: The sudden resignation of Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Sasikanth Senthil has left district officers perplexed as he shared good relations with the BJP MLAs from DK and the state government was not baying for his transfer either.
In his letter, Mr Senthil said he was resigning for personal reasons, which seemed to stem from the “fundamental building blocks of democracy being compromised in an unprecedented manner.” Commenting on his statement, one officer said, “Mr Senthil said, ‘The coming days will present extremely difficult challenges to the basic fabric of our nation’.
But he is not clear who is responsible for the challenge. If he is expressing his unhappiness with the Union government, that is difficult to understand as IAS officials join the service knowing that they need to work under various governments.” Said another officer, “He could have said what had annoyed him instead of making a very vague statement. If he had any issue with the Union government, he could have made it clear.”
One officer pointed out that even after the state government changed, all the seven BJP MLAs from DK wanted him to continue as DC. “Not one MLA demanded his transfer. The relationship between the MLAs and DC was good. Even the state government did not transfer him when it transferred many IAS officials,” he observed.
Unclear about the reason for Mr Senthil's resignation some have begun speculating that his problems with the sand mafia could be responsible, but others have dismissed such theories. Mr Senthil had taken progressive steps in the district since taking charge, toiling to put it on the tourism map of the state. He is the second IAS officer to resign in recent weeks after Kannan Gopinathan from Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu quit in August over the abrogation of Article 370.
