Tamil Nadu BJP leader and former IPS officer K Annamalai, who belonged to the Karnataka cadre, on Sunday refuted allegations that he got trained to appear for UPSC exams from an organisation affiliated to the RSS.
The 36-year-old officer-turned-politician, who earned the sobriquet ‘Singham’ for his flamboyant style of functioning, also said he had worked under the Congress and JD(S)-led regimes for the most part of his career in Karnataka.
Annamalai issued a terse statement on Sunday after rumours on the social media that he was “handpicked” by the RSS a decade back to be sent to the civil services and that he prepared for his UPSC exams from a Sangh-affiliated training centre. Social media was abuzz with “details” about Annamalai’s score in the UPSC exams and during the interview.
The former IPS officer is being heavily trolled on social media, especially in Twitter, for his “past affiliations” with the RSS before he joined the civil services. The trolling had increased after he joined the BJP on August 25 with the Tamil Twitter trending hashtags opposing him and his policies.
“My interview and civil service selection happened in 2010-11 when UPA was in power, Training happened when UPA was in power. Not only the selection, but I am also an IPS training topper - second best for the batch of 64 RR,” Annamalai said.
He added that he was selected by the IAS/IPS/IFS officers during the combined training at Mussoorie by voting and stood first for exhibiting “leadership qualities during the training and won a gold medal.”
“I never went to any academy affiliated to a party or to an organisation. Prepared on my own and all of these facts are in the open and in the public domain,” he said in the statement, without naming the RSS.
He also said though he does not like to talk about his past laurels, he felt it is needed for the speculators about his past life. “All of these along with my whole life story will be in detail in my book which will be published shortly,” he said.
The former IPS officer also refuted reports that the majority of his appointments in Karnataka were made by the BJP, the party he joined last week.
“In Karnataka, out of my total service, only 4 days was with BJP. Close to 6 years with Congress, 1 year with JD (S) along with two years of training. All of my postings were done by Mr Siddaramaiah, former chief minister from Congress party for coastal Karnataka and Mr Kumaraswamy, former chief minister from JD (S) party for Bengaluru city,” he said.
Annamalai, who resigned last year from the IPS after serving in the state for nine years, has served in Udupi, Chikkamagaluru and Bengaluru South. He came to be known as ‘Singham’ for his tough and no-nonsense policing.