BJP names former IAS officer AK Sharma as party's candidate for UP MLC polls
Gujarat cadre IAS officer A K Sharma, who recently took voluntary retirement from the service and joined the BJP, has been named party's candidate for the MLC polls in Uttar Pradesh.
AK Sharma, a 1988 batch officer from Mau district in Uttar Pradesh, is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and had worked with him in Gujarat. Sharma joined the party in the presence of state BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Dr Dinesh Sharma at the party headquarters in Lucknow on Thursday.
“Today former IAS officer Arvind Kumar Sharma was welcomed in the BJP family. The party will definitely get new impetus with Sharma's capabilities and dedication who has been associated with the ideology of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’,” Swatantra Dev Singh said while welcoming Sharma into the party.
Besides Sharma, the BJP has also named Swatantra Dev, Dinesh Sharma and Laxman Prasad Acharya as party's candidates for the poll. Elections to the 12 seats of the Legislative Council will be held on January 28. The last date for the filing of nominations is January 18.
Sharma had worked with Narendra Modi from 2001 to 2020. He initially worked in the Gujarat chief minister's office and later in the PMO. Sharma held the charge of the secretary (MSME) at the Centre before taking the voluntary retirement, sources said, adding that he had his schooling from Mau and did postgraduation from Allahabad University.
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