Following the lapse in security of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s ongoing ‘Memantha Siddham’ Bus Yatra, Director General of Police (DGP) K. Rajendranath Reddy on Saturday ordered the jurisdictional officers such as Commissioners of Police (CPs) and Superintendents of Police (SPs) to position themselves at the campaigning vehicle’s door to manage the rope parties.
The order maintained that the CPs and SPs must reach the entrance of the bus or campaigning vehicle and set the rope parties in position as soon as the vehicle stops. They have also been asked to perform ring-around duty in civil clothes both on rooftops and near the entrances of the campaigning vehicles.
Mr. Rajendranath Reddy highlighted that the rope party personnel stood far off into the crowd, enabling people to get close to the Chief Minister. He further ordered rope parties to surround the campaigning vehicle occupied by Jagan from all four directions.
In two recent incidents, in Vijayawada and Rayalaseema, security lapses were noticed. In the former, a stone was hurled at the Chief Minister, causing an injury on his forehead, and in the latter a sandal was thrown at him.
Meanwhile, the new orders sparked debate among certain senior police officers. “This directive not only diverts these high-ranking officials from their principal duties of overseeing district-level law enforcement and maintaining public order but also seems to be designed to bind these officials close to the CM’s political activities,” a senior officer observed.
