Officers descend on Patiala palace

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 12

Eyeing plum postings, senior officers, a majority of them police personnel, are making a beeline for the New Moti Bagh Palace, the residence of Chief Minister-designate Capt Amarinder Singh.

An Additional District Transport Officer and a retired IG arrived with a box of sweets, while Amarinder’s close friends — former engineer Jaskaran Sandhu and former Armyman Major AP Singh — were among the few who met him early this morning. The rest had to wait.

Additional DGP Rohit Chaudhary was among the top officers seen carrying a bouquet, eager to meet Amarinder. He was followed by Patiala Central Jail Superintendent Bhupinderjit Singh.

As they stood waiting in a corner, Jalandhar Police Commissioner Arpit Shukla walked in, looking for one of Amarinder’s OSDs.

A few minutes later, IG, Jalandhar Zone, LK Yadav (in uniform) came in and had a chat with Patiala SSP S Bhupathi. Yadav also inquired about Amarinder and entered the drawing room to meet him.

Most of the officers tried hard to avoid meeting their colleagues.

Some officers, including Kashmir Singh Gill, Baljot Rathore, Satvir Attwal and MS Dhesi, were seen waiting for the “right moment” to meet Amarinder.

Senior IPS officer Paramraj Singh Umranangal held a closed-door meeting with Amarinder last evening.

A few senior officers, including IPS officer JK Jain, were among the few who waited for almost two hours on Saturday and finally were the first ones to meet Amarinder.

As the officers continued to wait near the stairs, Amarinder took another staircase from the rear side and went to the library, where the local media was waiting for about 30 minutes.

After the press meeting, Amarinder got ready to leave for Chandigarh. While some officers managed to wish him, others were kept at a distance by the security cordon.