A. K. Sharma Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About A. K. Sharma

• A K Sharma is an Indian politician, former IAS officer, and Bureaucrat, who became the State Vice President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh in 2021.

• Growing up in a remote village, Sharma spent his childhood undertaking chores like, cleaning the house front, feeding the cattle, clearing out the semi-pucca drainage system, and regulating seasonal harvest.

• Sharma grew up watching his father working towards the development of their village by setting up the first tube well in the village. His father also contributed to establishing a secondary school in the name of Pundit Alagoo Rai Shashtri in the village.

• He actively participated in various extra curriculum activities during his college days like composing and reciting poetry and ghazals and participating in stage dramas, skits, and short plays.

• After completing his master’s, he was admitted to the UGC fellowship as a Research fellow (D. Phil), meanwhile, he started preparing for UPSC. Simultaneously, he pursued a job as a lecturer in the department of Political science at the University of Allahabad.

• After working as a traffic inspector in UP Roadways, Sharma’s father retired as a senior incharge of Mau roadways bus station and died in 1999. In an interview, Sharma talked about his father’s job and said,
  

  My father being in the service of UP Road Transport, I spent a lot of my childhood living at two Bus Stations (Rasra & Mau)…So, I owe a lot to that eco-system comprising of the chaiwalas, halwais, drivers, conductors, porters, and staff members who were an integral part of my daily life. This phase of my life lasted from class six to twelfth.”

• A. K. Sharma’s son, Abhinav Sharma, was born on the day on which his UPSC results were declared. His daughter, Chitra Sharma, got married in a family living in Kashi, Varanasi.

• Sharma became a civil servant in 1988 after two failed attempts in the UPSC examination.  He began his career as an IAS officer with the Gujarat cadre. In 1989, he held the position of  Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in Palitana in Bhavnagar District.

• A. K. Sharma’s association with Narendra Modi began in 2001 when Modi was elected as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Sharma was one of the officers posted to the CM’s office. After serving as secretary to the CM, Sharma was elevated to the position of additional principal secretary to the chief minister.

• Other prominent positions at which he served the Government of Gujarat include Deputy Secretary Finance Department, incharge of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, and MD of iNDEXTb.

• He was also the in-charge of Investment Promotion & Investor Facilitation from 2001 to 2006 in Gujarat.

• In 2008, Sharma played a pivotal role in the relocation of the Tata Nano plant from Singur, West Bengal, to Sanand, Gujarat.

• Sharma played an important part in organising Vibrant Gujarat summits, a biennial event to attract foreign investment that was conceptualized in 2003 under the supervision of Narendra Modi.

• A trusted bureaucrat of Narendra Modi, Sharma regularly interacted with various foreign dignitaries.
  

  Narendra Modi and A. K. Sharma meeting the delegation from German multinational chemical company BASF

  In February 2014, when Narendra Modi was a BJP prime ministerial nominee, Sharma played a key role in bringing then-US ambassador Nancy Powell to Gandhinagar, Gujarat, where the US envoy and Modi discussed the importance of the US-India relationship, regional security issues, human rights, and American trade and investment in India.

• When Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister of India in 2014, Sharma joined the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as a joint secretary.

• In Gujarat, while he was serving as CEO of Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board (GIDB), Sharma earned the reputation of an infrastructure expert, which made him the suitable person to assume the position of secretary of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in 2020, a key area that Modi wanted to focus on to make India self-reliant.

• A. K. Sharma joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh as a member of the legislative council (MLC) in January 2021 after he took voluntary retirement from civil services 18 months prior to his due retirement.
  

  Arvind Kumar Sharma joining BJP in the presence of Swatantra Dev Singh and Dinesh Sharma at BJP’s office, in Lucknow, on 14 January 2021

• Amid the Covid surge in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, when the state was struggling to contain the pandemic Sharma was named ‘Covid Prabhari’ for the district. Thereafter, he regulated Covid-19 relief work in the district supervised by supervising the setting up of a DRDO hospital and a tele-consultancy app and ensuring the functioning of the Command and Control Centre. He helped Varanasi cut Covid cases from 1,000+ to under 300.

• Sharma’s work as Covid Prabhari was immensely appreciated by PM Modi who urged other states to follow the Varanasi Model of Covid Management.

• A. K. Sharma was appointed the vice president of the UP BJP in June 2021.

• The event sparked rumours that Sharma might be appointed deputy chief minister in the state government in the cabinet reshuffle ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections. The speculations led to a cold war between the UP CM Yogi Adityanath, and PM Narendra Modi. ^[5]Hindustan Times

• For immediate addressal of public problems, Sharma developed an application called ‘TEJ,’ an interactive web portal.