Retired IPS officer Kuldeep Sharma, who was at loggerheads with the Gujarat government when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister, today joined the Congress.
"I have joined the Congress as it is the only party which works as per the Constitution of the country. The Constitution of Congress and that of the country are identical," Sharma told reporters after he was inducted into the party at its office here in the presence of Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki.
"I retired from the IPS one year ago after serving for 37 years. Earlier I had thought I should start an NGO to give back to the society what it has given me. But I came to the conclusion that joining a mainstream political party will only serve the purpose," he said.
"We will build this party brick by brick from where it is," Sharma added.
Both Kuldeep and his brother, suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma had crossed swords with the Gujarat government when Modi was the Chief Minister.
Kuldeep Sharma had played a prominent role in the investigation of Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case when he was the head of state CID.
Subsequently, a case of fake encounter was slapped against Kuldeeep Sharma on an application by Jusab Juma Mokha, a Kutch resident, who alleged that five members of his family were killed by police in 1984 when Sharma was the superintendent of police in the district.
In 2005, when Sharma headed CID (crime), he had written a letter to the then Chief Secretary of Gujarat Sudhir Mankad alleging that former Gujarat minister of state for Home Amit Shah (presently the national president of BJP) had taken a bribe from Ketan Parikh, an accused in the Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank fraud.
Later, though Sharma was an IPS officer, the state government appointed him as the managing director of Gujarat Sheep and Wool Development Corporation (GSWDC).
In April 2011, the UPA government at the Centre transferred Sharma to the Bureau of Police Research and Development under the Union Home Ministry.
The BJP government in Gujarat protested saying it hadn't been consulted.
After his retirement in April this year, Gujarat government charge-sheeted Kuldeep for not 'surrendering' the unspent grants during his stint at the GSWDC.