After rumours that the policeman turned educationist Masud Chowdary is slated to jump into politics and join Congress, once his term as the vice chancellor of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University ends, speculation are rife that he may be sent as governor of the Gujjar heartland Rajasthan.
Chowdary, who hails from Kala Ban village in Poonch, is also the chairman of Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust, in Jammu. The rumours of his potential gubernatorial assignment started after the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi inaugurated a Gurjar Centre for Culture and Heritage built by the trust and addressed a large gathering of Gujjars in Jammu last week. Reports suggest UPA has been swayed by Chowdary’s impressive show, and see in him a potential to fill the vacuum in Rajasthan.
Rajasthan Governor Prabhar Rau died last month and since then Shivraj Patil, Governor of Punjab is looking after the affairs of Rajasthan as well.
Chowdary, known to have a good relations with senior Gujjar leaders of Rajasthan, is said to have played a pivotal role in diffusing the crisis in Rajasthan during the Gujjar agitation led by Kirori Singh Bainsla.
A law graduate from Aligarh Muslim University, Chowdary began his career in Jammu and Kashmir Police as a Deputy Superintendent of Police in 1967. He became the first Gujjar to rise to the rank of Additional Director General of Police in IPS in 2002, and retired as ADG Administration in 2004.
He was appointed as VC of BGSBU Rajouri, the same year.
