After VRS, Gujarat IAS officer to join BJP today, may contest MLC polls

A K Sharma, a former IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre who recently took voluntary retirement as the secretary of the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), is set to join the BJP in Lucknow on Thursday and likely to contest one of the 12 MLC seats scheduled to go to polls on January 28.

Sharma opted for voluntary retirement ahead of his scheduled superannuation next year.

In Gujarat, he had worked with Narendra Modi when the latter was the Chief Minister.

“He (AK Sharma) will join the party tomorrow (Thursday) at the state party office in Lucknow. The time of the joining and who will be present at the event are not yet confirmed,” BJP spokesperson Chandramohan told The Indian Express.

The 12 outgoing MLCs include Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, state BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh and state BJP vice-president Laxman Prasad Acharya.