New SP Krishnakanth Patel takes charge in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati district

The post had fallen vacant with the abrupt transfer of Mallika Garg from the post, within a few days of her taking charge.

Krishnakanth Patel taking charge as the Superintendent of Police of Tirupati district, on Tuesday.

Krishnakanth Patel took charge as the new Superintendent of Police (SP) for Tirupati district on March 5 (Tuesday). The post had fallen vacant with the abrupt transfer of Mallika Garg from the post, within a few days of her taking charge.

Mr. Patel is a 2018 batch IPS officer who worked as an Additional Superintendent in Rampachodavaram and Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) at Kurnool and as Deputy Commissioner (Law and Order) in Vijayawada Commissionerate.

Opposition backlash

Opposition parties were quick to raise objections over the sudden transfer of Ms. Garg, which they attributed to ’political pressure’.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Tirupati Parliamentary constituency in charge G. Narasimha Yadav said the government has earned the dubious distinction of erratically and arbitrarily transferring officials. He squarely blamed two legislators in the district of having a hand in exerting pressure on the Department to get Ms. Garg transferred out of the district.

BJP spokesperson G. Bhanuprakash Reddy called it yet another example of hundreds of instances of undue influence by the political leaders into the official machinery. Congress leader P. Naveen Kumar Reddy said the government owed an explanation to the people of the district on what necessitated the transfer in less than twenty days of the posting.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Mr. Patel vowed to conduct free and fair elections in a transparent manner.