Why was Andhra DGP transferred?

Andhra Pradesh: New details have emerged in the sudden transfer of Gautam Sawang from the post of Director-General of Police. Kasireddy VRN Reddy has been appointed the new DGP of Andhra Pradesh.

Sources said failure to control the crowd during the `Chalo Vijayawada' program was one of the reasons for the transfer of Sawang. At least one lakh people defied the ban to attend the programme.

The government blamed the police for the failure to control the crowd. "The transfer has been long pending, over a year and a half. However Sawang stayed on during COVID pandemic while the government was scouting for a competent officer. Many eyebrows were raised when Sawang held IGINITE at Tirupati while there were attacks on the temples in Andhra Pradesh and several other unattended major incidents. There were minor skirmishes between him and other officials as well. The top grass of the government had a close watch over increasing negative reports' a source told NewsMeter, who wasn't surprised over the sudden transfer.

Gautam Sawang was posted as the DGP soon after the YSRCP government assumed power in May 2019. Many officials appointed by former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu were replaced. Sources said there were huge differences between Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Gautam Sawang which ultimately led to the latter's transfer.

Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan asked the government to specify the reason for the abrupt replacement of the Director-General of Police.

In a statement, Pawan said the government should explain why DGP was removed. He said if the government failed to explain, people will infer that `Chalo Vijayawada' was the reason for this sudden move.

"Sawang's replacement reminds us of abrupt shifting of L.V. Subramanyam, the then Chief Secretary of YCP government," Pawan Kalyan said.