Ex-IAS officer joins BJP, party’s UP chief says he will play important innings
LUCKNOW : Former Gujarat cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Arvind Kumar Sharma joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a programme organised at the party’s state unit office here on Thursday amid speculation about a cabinet reshuffle in Uttar Pradesh after the biennial election to 12 seats in the State Legislative Council on January 28.
Indicating a major role for the former bureaucrat in the state government, UP BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh said Sharma had worked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for nearly 20 years and he would now play an important innings in the working of the state government and the party.
After joining the party, Sharma said, “I was working as secretary in the central government before taking voluntary retirement from service.”
Thanking the Prime Minister and BJP national president JP Nadda, he said, “I come from a backward village in Mau district of east UP. I have no political background. The BJP has honoured me. I will do the task entrusted by the party.”
A BJP leader said Sharma was likely to file his nomination papers for the Legislative Council election on Friday. The MLCs will be elected by MLAs.
The BJP has 310 members in the state assembly. The party is working on a strategy to win 10 of the 12 Council seats with the support of its alliance partner Apna Dal (Sonelal) as well as rebel Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress MLAs.
Along with Arvind Kumar Sharma, the party has finalised the names of its state unit president Swatantra Dev Singh, deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma and senior leader Laxman Acharya for the Council seats. The names of the remaining six candidates will be released after approval by the party’s central election committee.
After the Legislative Council election, the ball will be set rolling for a cabinet expansion before the crucial 2022 assembly election, the party leader said.
The party would like to utilise the services of Sharma, who held top positions in the Gujarat government when Modi was the chief minister, he added.
He moved to the Prime Minister’s Office after Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014. Before taking voluntary retirement, he was handling affairs in MSME (micro small and medium enterprises), a crucial department that was working on Modi’s plan for revival of the economy post Covid lockdown. Sharma has also handled the infrastructure and Vibrant Gujarat projects. His application for voluntary retirement from service was accepted by the Central government on Monday.