Woman IAS officer joins BSP, appointed Sr General Secretary

Chennai, Nov 25 (UNI) Senior bureaucrat P Sivagami, who quit her IAS post to take the plunge into politics, today joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and was appointed as the Senior General Secretary of the party's Tamil Nadu unit.

She was admitted into the party by BSP National Secretary Suresh Mane in the presence of party State President Selvam and Convenor Armstrong.

Later, talking to reporters, Mr Mane said Ms Sivagami would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and the constituency would be identified later.

He said BSP supremo Mayawati would address a massive rally in the city on December 22.

He said Ms Sivagami's nearly three-decade-long experience as a bureaucrat would help to strengthen the party.

On her decision to quit as IAS officer and enter politics, Ms Sivagami said as an IAS officer she could only request the government seeking to introduce welfare schemes for Dalits, and the downtrodden.

''But as a representative of a political party, we can exert pressure on government and get things done,'' she said and alleged that the funds allotted for the Adi Dravida welfare were not reaching the beneficiaries fully.

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