Making It 'Official': Former Bureaucrats AK Sharma, Asim Arun Get Ministerial Berths in New Yogi Govt

While many big names and former ministers were dropped from the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government this time, two retired bureaucrats bagged ministerial berths. Former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Arvind Kumar Sharma was sworn in as a cabinet minister on Friday while retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Asim Arun was inducted as a minister of state (independent charge) in the new government.

AK Sharma had joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party just before the UP legislative council elections in January after taking voluntary retirement and is currently a BJP MLC. Sharma has worked closely at the Centre with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is said to be on good terms with him.

Hailing from Kazhakhurd village under Ranipur development block of Muhammadabad Gohna tehsil in UP’s Mau district, Sharma was a 1988-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre. Born in 1962, he is the eldest of three sons of Shiv Murti Rai and Shanti Devi. After doing his primary schooling at the village school, he cleared his intermediate exam from DAV Inter College. After this, he went on to complete his graduation, post-graduation, and PhD from Allahabad University.

Asim Arun, a resident of Kannauj, had taken VRS sometime back from the post of police commissioner of Kanpur. Subsequently, he contested the UP assembly elections this year from the Kannauj Sadar seat on a BJP ticket. He defeated three-time Samajwadi Party MLA Anil Dohre to win the constituency, which was considered a bastion of the Yadavs— the core vote bank of the SP.

Asim Arun is the brother of Rashmi Arun Shami, the principal secretary of school education in Madhya Pradesh. Their father Shri Ram Arun was a former director general of police (DGP) in UP.

Asim Arun is a 1994-batch IPS officer. In March last year, he took over the responsibility of Kanpur police commissioner. He was previously the head of the state anti-terror squad (ATS) and also led the UP Dial 100 emergency services.

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