Mumbai, March 18 (IANS): The lucre of politics has lured yet another Maharashtra senior IPS officer. Former additional director general of police P.K. Jain joined the Republican Party of India-A here Tuesday.

Jain quit the service last month - barely a week before his retirement and threw in his lot with the RPI-A, a part of the five-party saffron Grand Alliance in the state.

"I resigned after 33 years of service mainly to send a strong message to the government, which meted out poor treatment to IPS officers," claimed Jain.

He said senior officers on central deputation were kept waiting for months and were then compelled to take up insignificant postings.

"There are some officers with a very good reputation and who have served with high-profile government agencies... It is unfortunate they are being treated like this," Jain said.

A beaming RPI-A chief Ramdas Athawale said in Jain, the party would pitch a highly-educated, former IPS officer as a pro-social candidate to the masses.

"We are sure the masses will vote for him and he will emerge victorious," Athawale said optimistically.

However, Jain would not contest the Lok Sabha elections but contest for the Grand Alliance partners wherever required, he said.

RPI spokesperson Mayur Borkar said Jain, with his non-Dalit credentials, would boost the RPI-A's image and that of the Grand Alliance in a big way.

Bokar added Jain has indicated his desire to contest the ensuing Maharashtra assembly elections later this year and a decision would be taken accordingly.

With Jain, three high-ranking police officers have quit the IPS to join politics. They are former Mumbai police commissioner Satya Pal Singh and former Pune police commissioner Gulabrao Pol.