Having labored carefully with Narendra Modi for about 20 years, first within the Chief Minister’s Office of Gujarat after which on the Centre after Modi grew to become Prime Minister, Arvind Kumar Sharma joined the BJP on Thursday.
The 1988 batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, Sharma took voluntary retirement earlier this week, greater than a 12 months earlier than his superannuation in July 2022.
Sharma was inducted into the occasion in presence of Uttar Pradesh BJP unit president Swatantra Dev Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma.
Speaking to mediapersons after becoming a member of the BJP, Arvind Kumar Sharma thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and claimed to be the “son of the soil from a backward village of Mau”, which is a part of Purvanchal area of the Uttar Pradesh.
“I am from a village in Mau, rather a backward village. As you all know, Purvanchal is a bit backward region of Uttar Pradesh. I became an IAS officer after much hard work and struggle… To suddenly pick a person like me. A person, who does not have any political background or political family or legacy and to bring such a person in politics, only Narendra Modi or the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) can do,” Arvind Kumar Sharma mentioned, including that he would do no matter work the occasion assigns to him.
Sharma’s becoming a member of the BJP comes amid the nominations for the Legislative Council polls in Uttar Pradesh. The ruling BJP is prone to win a majority of the 12 Legislative Council seats that will go to polls on January 28. The final date for submitting of nomination papers is January 18.
Sources within the BJP mentioned that the previous IAS officer is prone to be nominated within the polls.
Welcoming him to the occasion, UP BJP chief mentioned that Arvind Kumar Sharma’s “picture of an sincere officer wouldn’t solely enhance the stature of the occasion but additionally his stature.
Singh mentioned that regardless of being in companies, Sharma continued to work for the society, each in Gujarat in addition to in his village in Mau like serving to in marriage of women.
Arvind Kumar Sharma started his profession as an assistant collector in Gujarat and shortly rose to change into a secretary within the Chief minister’s Office (CMO) in October 2001, when Modi grew to become the chief minister of the state. He has been part of Modi’s shut circle of bureaucrats.
The solely break on this affiliation, which lasted via Modi’s three phrases as CM, was in 2006 when Sharma went to Australia for coaching.
Within the CMO in Gujarat, Sharma rose to the rank of extra principal secretary to the CM by 2013-14. He was instrumental in taking ahead Modi’s biennial world funding summit “Vibrant Gujarat” venture that performed a key function in reworking the picture of a riot-hit state to an funding vacation spot.
When BJP received the Lok Sabha election in 2014 and Modi grew to become PM, Sharma was the primary handful of officers who accompanied Modi to Delhi. His first posting in Delhi was joint secretary to the PMO. He remained within the PMO until April 2020 when he was appointed because the secretary of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). Eight months later Sharma took an early retirement which was accepted by the Centre on January 11, 2021.
Despite being a detailed aide of Modi within the paperwork, he has at all times maintained a low-profile. His affiliation with Modi is just second to a different Gujarat cadre officer PK Mishra of the 1972 batch who’s presently the principal secretary to PM Modi.
When contacted by The Indian Express for a touch upon his early retirement, Sharma didn’t reply.
Bhumihar by caste – the dominant caste in Purvanchal area – Sharma after finishing his education from Mau district, went to Prayagraj and did postgraduation in political science.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders in his dwelling district Mau expressed dwelling that Sharma could be given larger accountability within the occasion forward of the 2022 Assembly elections within the state.
“While we already have one cabinet minister in Dara Singh Chauhan from our district, Arvind Kumar Sharma’s joining would only strengthen the party in Purvanchal,” mentioned Praveen Kumar Gupta, BJP district president of Mau.
“Our party does not take decisions in a haste. We hope to see him in bigger roles,” he added.
Sharma’s village Khaja Khurd falls in Muhammadabad Gohna Assembly constituency, which was received by BJP’s Ram Sonkar in 2017.
