Former RAW chief joins BJP, may contest LS polls
26 Feb 2014 1:22 AM GMT
In a boost to the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the 2014 polls, former RAW chief Sanjeev Tripathi on Tuesday joined the BJP. He is likely to be fielded by the party from Uttar Pradesh.
Tripathi follows several retired bureaucrats and diplomats finding a career in politics. Tripathi, a 1972-batch IPS officer, is the latest to join the saffron party in the recent past after former home secretary R K Singh, former petroleum secretary R S Pandey, India’s former permanent representative at the UN Hardeep Singh Puri and former police commissioner, Mumbai Satyapal Singh. Welcoming the retired IPS officer into the party fold, BJP chief Rajnath Singh said: ‘He feels there should be a change in the country and wants to work for this change by joining the BJP.’
Singh said Tripathi, who has recently retired, will help contribute in bringing about this change and the party will benefit from his experience. Tripathi, who was the chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) from 30 December, 2010 to 29 December, 2012, hails from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. After working in Uttar Pradesh for a few years, he joined the Centre as an intelligence officer. Incidentally, his father-in-law G S Bajpai was also the chief of RAW.
‘I have been thinking for the past one year on how to utilise my experience in nation building. Our country is passing through a very critical stage especially in areas of national security and economic development. Our nation needs a stable, strong and decisive government and instability of any kind will not just be harmful for economic development but will come to the aid of such forces who want to destabilise the country,’ he said.
Tripathi follows several retired bureaucrats and diplomats finding a career in politics. Tripathi, a 1972-batch IPS officer, is the latest to join the saffron party in the recent past after former home secretary R K Singh, former petroleum secretary R S Pandey, India’s former permanent representative at the UN Hardeep Singh Puri and former police commissioner, Mumbai Satyapal Singh. Welcoming the retired IPS officer into the party fold, BJP chief Rajnath Singh said: ‘He feels there should be a change in the country and wants to work for this change by joining the BJP.’
Singh said Tripathi, who has recently retired, will help contribute in bringing about this change and the party will benefit from his experience. Tripathi, who was the chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) from 30 December, 2010 to 29 December, 2012, hails from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. After working in Uttar Pradesh for a few years, he joined the Centre as an intelligence officer. Incidentally, his father-in-law G S Bajpai was also the chief of RAW.
‘I have been thinking for the past one year on how to utilise my experience in nation building. Our country is passing through a very critical stage especially in areas of national security and economic development. Our nation needs a stable, strong and decisive government and instability of any kind will not just be harmful for economic development but will come to the aid of such forces who want to destabilise the country,’ he said.
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