Former IAS officer AK Sharma named vice-president of BJP in Uttar Pradesh

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday appointed former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Arvind Kumar Sharma, who joined the party in January, as a vice president of its Uttar Pradesh unit. Sharma, MLC and former IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, is considered to be among the trusted hands of Prime Minister Modi and had worked with him in Gujarat. He had joined the BJP in January this, days after he opted for voluntary retirement from the IAS.

The appointment of Sharma, a former Gujarat-cadre IAS officer, as the vice president of the UP BJP comes in the backdrop of recent rumours he could be inducted as a minister in the state government in the event of a cabinet reshuffle ahead of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Last week, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had met PM Modi in Delhi amid talks of Cabinet expansion and also dissent in the Uttar Pradesh BJP unit over the state government's handling of the COVID-19 situation. The Chief Minister had also met BJP's top brass, including party chief JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his two-day visit to Delhi.