Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda picked Arun Bhagal, Director General of the Border Security Force, to head the Intelligence Bureau dispelling popular belief that top slots in the government are meant for Kannadigas alone. Ashok Tendon, DG of the National Security Guards, was shifted to head the BSF. The appointment of Arun Bhagat as Director of the top intelligence outfit was Cleared by the Cabinet Committee of Appointments this morning as Abhijit Maitra retired. He was officiating as director after D.C. Pathak was unceremoniously sent packing as chief of the Joint Intelligence Committee Left to himself, Gowda would have preferred to bring Ratnaker Rao, a Kannadiga IPS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre of 1961 batch. Rao is senior most in the cadre and had been in the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). But there was a technical snag and the Union Home Minister Inderjit Gupta was also opposed to his induction. Ratnaker Rao quit the TPS cadre to be absorbed permanently in the Research and Analysis Service (RAS) where the Vajpayee government did not make him Director RAW and shifted him as Secretary (security). Since director IB is a cadre post, Gowda would have to make it an ex-cadre post and seek clearance from the Union Public Service Commission to accommodate Ratnakar Rao, it was suggested to Gowda that he should go by the seniority in the IPS cadre itself.

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 2, 1996