HYDERABAD: With TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao beginning his second innings as chief minister, Telangana police have started preparations to purchase a fleet of high-end cars, including Toyota Land Cruiser Prados and Toyota Fortuners, to be part of his convoy. Incidentally, the 10 vehicles presently part of the chief minister’s convoy were purchased in 2014.Telangana intelligence sleuths reportedly considered various car brands, including Mercedes Benz, but finally decided to go with the Toyota vehicles, which are part of the chief minister’s present convoy.After the formation of Telangana, a new fleet of cars was bought for the chief minister in 2014 keeping in view the security threats, especially from Maoists, and rivals from different political parties. Five years down the line, the fleet is being replaced, interestingly with the same models. Though the police brass have remained tight-lipped about it and even tried to downplay the development, it is learnt the chief minister’s motorcade might have between 7 and 10 vehicles soon.Sources in Telangana police have said that since the existing vehicles were had been used extensively, they had decided to change the fleet. Apart from his travel in the city, KCR frequently travels to Erravalli in Gajwel besides attending different government programmes in farflung districts.A Prado costs nearly ?93 lakh as per the ex-showroom price, while a Fortuner’s price ranges between ?27 lakh and ?33 lakh, depending on the model. After taking delivery of the vehicles, police give the Prado SUVs a security upgrade, including mine-proofing and add in other security features, which is an expensive affair.“The state police have a policy to replace the vehicles after extensive use or after the vehicle completes four or five years of service. The replacement of the chief minister’s convoy has got nothing to do with any security reasons. We maintain a tab on the latest security features in the market and add them to the convoy of VIPs. The present move to replace the vehicles in the chief minister’s convoy is being done as per our policy,’’ a credible source in Telangana police told TOI.Nearly 18 months ago, police had moved a proposal to buy new Mercedes cars for the chief minister, but with KCR not evincing interest in them, the plan was shelved. Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswami and his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath also travel by Prados. In all probability, the soon-to-be ministers in the Telangana cabinet might also get new vehicles.Recently, all police vehicles, including the cars used by IPS officers across Telangana, were replaced without much fanfare when the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in place during the recent assembly election.

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