Lucknow, Jan 15: Former IAS officer A K Sharma was named a BJP candidate for the Uttar Pradesh legislative council polls on Friday, a day after he joined the party, fuelling speculation that he will get a ministerial post soon.
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.
During a late-evening informal interaction with mediapersons at his official residence here, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath too remained non-committal on the issue. He just said, “Uttar Pradesh will get help from his (Sharma’s) experience.”
Adityanath evaded a reply when asked whether there was a possibility of any imminent expansion of his council of ministers or more specifically, whether Sharma could be made the deputy chief minister, as is being widely speculated in political circles.
The state already has two deputy chief ministers — Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Sharma earlier tweeted: “BJP declared me candidate for Biennial elections to UP Legislative Council. I am grateful & thankful. 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 the Gujarat chief minister, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, days after he opted for voluntary retirement from service. (PTI)
