Two big consecutive Naxal attacks in Chhattisgarh's Sukma, upcoming Assembly elections, and completion of a month long ambitious 'Lok Suraj Abhiyan' appear to have persuaded Dr. Raman Singh to opt for a big-ticket bureaucratic reshuffle - especially in police administration at DG & ADG levels. Interestingly, the seniority of main contenders spans from 1983 to 1988 batch. Keeping in view the increasingly complex and challenging scenario of the state, the govt may choose to go by competence rather than seniority. Based on this assumption, there appear to be at least four main contenders for the top cop job: Girdhari Nayak (IPS:1983), D M Awasthi (IPS:1986), B K Singh (IPS:1987) and Mukesh Gupta (IPS:1988). Currently, Nayak is DG Jail and Home Guards, Awasthi is DG Naxalite Operations and Binay Kumar Singh serves at the center as Additional Director of IB. The incumbent DGP A N Upadhyay's (IPS:1985: CG) has had 3.5 yrs tenure and hence the Govt has nothing to worry to go for a change of guard especially in the aftermath of Supreme Courts direction to reinstate T P Senkumar as Kerala DGP. Nayak, the senior most among contenders, has had a long stint as IG Bastar which makes him fit for the top job but his work approach and lack of support from peers appear to go against him. Consecutive Naxal attacks during Awasthi's tenure as Special DG, Naxal Operations, and his previous tenure with Police Housing Corporation puts a question mark on his prospect for next DGP. The dark horse in the race is B K Singh (currently, Additional Director IB) who earlier served as DIG Intelligence when the state of CG was created and later handled the SIB (Subsidiary Intelligence bureau) of the neighboring Naxal Hit state of Odisha. Some insiders see him as the right person for the top job in the current scenario whereas many others label him as an 'outsider,' ignoring the fact that he has had fair experience of serving Narayanpur as Additional SP, in-charge SP of erstwhile (undivided) Bastar and later becoming the first DIG Intelligence for the initial 2 years when the state was carved out in 2000. Also, DMs of various districts are likely to be shifted (Durg, Kabirdham, Narayanpur, Jagdalpur, Kwardha). The CM has taken a ground level assessment of happenings and may take the decision soon. Whatever be the final outcome, considerations of the Elections due next year will run high on the government's mind.