Former Kerala DGP R Sreelekha joins BJP

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: R Sreelekha, the first woman IPS officer from Kerala and also the state’s first woman officer to adorn the Director General of Police (DGP) post, joined the BJP on Wednesday. She is the third ex-DGP-rank officer to have joined the BJP in the state, after T P Senkumar, who joined the party after his retirement in 2017, and Jacob Thomas, who became a BJP member in 2021.

Sreelekha received the party membership from BJP state president K Surendran at her residence at Easwara Vilasam in the state capital. Sreelekha, who retired from service in December 2020, said she joined the party owing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma and BJP’s ideology.

She said BJP leaders had approached her to join the party and she took the decision after contemplating on it for three weeks.

“I had been an impartial officer in my 33-and-a-half years of service. After retirement, based on my experience, I realise this (joining the BJP) is my best way to serve the people,” she told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.