BJP gives ex-IAS officer UP MLC poll ticket; speculation rife over govt post

Former IAS officer A K Sharma was on Friday named a BJP candidate for the Uttar Pradesh legislative council polls a day after he joined the party, fuelling speculation that he will get a ministerial post.Sharma, however, parried questions when asked to comment on the speculation.

Former IAS officer A K Sharma was on Friday named a BJP candidate for the Uttar Pradesh legislative council polls a day after he joined the party, fuelling speculation that he will get a ministerial post.

Sharma, however, parried questions when asked to comment on the speculation. ''Whatever responsibility the BJP gives me, I will discharge with full honesty,'' he told PTI.

''BJP declared me candidate for Biennial elections to UP Legislative Council. I am grateful & thankful,'' Sharma tweeted. ''Specially thankful to National President Shri Nadda ji, Hon PM Shri Modi ji, CM Shri Yogi ji and other leaders.'' Sharma, who has long been one of the trusted bureaucrats of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since his tenure as Gujarat chief minister, had joined the BJP on Thursday, days after he opted for voluntary retirement from service.

He had served in key positions in the PMO after Modi became the prime minister in 2014.

In another tweet, the 1988-batch IAS officer said: ''Village born person who struggled to make it to IAS ! Making me leave GOI's Secretary post before two years of retirement and making me join world's biggest party with full honour. Only Narendra Modi and BJP can do it. Grateful.'' Besides Sharma, the BJP also named Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, state unit president Swatantra Deo Singh and Lakshman Prasad Acharya as its candidates for the polls.

The present terms of the Dinesh Sharma, Singh, and Acharya in the state upper house come to an end on January 30. Only the former IAS officer is the new face in the party's first list of candidates that was released on Friday.

Polling for 12 legislative council seats in Uttar Pradesh will be held on January 28 and the ruling party can win 10 seats going by its brute majority in the 403-member Assembly.

BJP circles speculate that A K Sharma might join the government, though there is no official word. The party's state unit kept a guarded silence over the future role of Sharma, whose closeness to Modi added grist to the rumour mill.

Observers pointed out that there was precedence of top bureaucrats joining the government at the Centre, such as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

Known for delivering time-bound results, A K Sharma earned Modi's trust as the secretary in his CMO and by successfully handing the Vibrant Gujarat campaign to get investment to the state.

He was handling affairs in the MSME (micro small and medium enterprises), a crucial department that was working on the prime minister's plan for revival of the economy following the coronavirus lockdown.

A Bhumihar by caste, he had his schooling from Mau district in eastern Uttar Pradesh and did postgraduation from the Allahabad University.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party candidates Ahmed Hasan and Rajendra Chaudhary, filed their nomination papers on Friday in the presence of party president Akhilesh Yadav. PTI AR/KR SMIHMB

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)