Ahmedabad: While a delay in the BJP list of candidates for Gujarat Assembly elections is giving some anxious moments to sitting MLAs and ministers, an IPS officer seems extremely confident of making the cut.
Chhota Udepur Superintendent of Police, P C Baranda, who has taken voluntary retirement from the Indian Police Service (IPS) to take the political plunge, is overtly confident of bagging the Bhiloda ticket as a BJP candidate even before the BJP could come out with its first list of candidates ahead of the December elections.
Baranda's resignation was approved by the state government on Wednesday. He has sought a BJP ticket to contest from Bhiloda constituency in Aravalli district.
Sources close to the 2007 batch IPS officer said that Baranda has a good chance of bagging the Bhiolda BJP ticket as it is his native town. The apprehension has already made him quit even before the party could confirm the development.
Speaking to News18, the ex-IPS officer said, "I am extremely confident that I will get a BJP ticket from the Bhiloda constituency in Aravalli district. I quit the job of an IPS officer because I want to work for my native town, which is tribal-dominated and has not been able to reap the benefits of development so far.”
Baranda added that he wants to side with the BJP because he is impressed with the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to Baranda, development has failed to reach the tribal town of Bhiloda because of its Congress MLA, who has occupied the seat for too long a period.
Anil Joshiyara of Congress has been the MLA of Bhiloda since 1995, except for 1998, when BJP's Upendra Trivedi beat him.
While the Congress had got a whiff of Baranda getting a BJP ticket in the 2017 Assembly elections, former minister Naran Rathwa sought his transfer after raising questions over his neutrality.
Over the past few months, Baranda has been a regular at both Gandhinagar and Bhiloda, lobbying for an Assembly ticket.
P C Baranda completed his higher education in law from Modasa in North Gujarat and even secured a Diploma in Physical Education from the C N Vidyalaya in Ahmedabad. He was employed as a Physical Education teacher at Navyug School in Vadodara before joining the Gujarat Police.
After working for ten years as a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Baranda was promoted as an IPS officer in 2007.
Baranda's wife, who was a deputy collector, had also taken voluntary retirement in 2012. Two of his other brothers were also in the police force and had retired as from Government Railway Police in Vadodara and Bardoli in Surat. Baranda's younger brother is principal at Ayurvedic College in Shyamlaji.
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